UC-NRLF 


The  Great 


Cottonseed  Industry 


or  THE 


South 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


BY 


LUTHER  A.    RANSOM 

Ex-President  The    Inter-State  Cottoneed  Crushers3 

Association 


NEW    YORK 

OIL,  PAINT  AND  DRUG  REPORTER 
IOO  WILLIAM  STREET 

IQII 


Copyright 

1911 

Oil,  Paint  and  Drug  Reporter 
New  York 


THE  GREAT  COTTONSEED  INDUS- 
TRY OF  THE  SOUTH 

PUBLISHERS'    NOTE. 

In  June,  1910,  the  Oil,  Paint  and  Drug  Reporter  re- 
quested the  late  Luther  A.  Ransom,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  one  of 
the  most  prominent  men  in  the  Cotton  Oil  Industry  in  the 
United  States,  who  was  an  ex-President  of  the  Interstate 
Cottonseed  Crushers'  Association,  to  prepare  an  article  on 
the  cottonseed  industry  for  publication  in  that  paper.  On 
July  18  Mr.  Ransom  wrote  that  the  article  which  he  had 
been  working  on  during  his  spare  time  had  grown  to  the 
dimensions  of  a  book,  and  stated  that  he  believed  the 
subject  of  the  great  cottonseed  industry  of  the  South, 
treated  purely  from  a  historical  and  industrial  standpoint, 
ought  to  be  of  general  interest  to  the  public,  and  at  his 
request  the  Oil,  Paint  and  Drug  Reporter  undertook  the 
publication  of  this  book.  On  September  19  Mr.  Ransom 
wrote  a  letter  discussing  certain  mechanical  features  of 
the  book,  which  had  not  definitely  been  decided  upon.  At 
that  time  the  complete  manuscript  was  in  our  hands.  On 
September  20  we  received  information  of  Mr.  Ransom's 
sudden  death,  which  occurred  on  the  19th. 

The  arrangements  which  Mr.  Kansom  had  made  for  the 
publication  of  his  book,  just  before  his  death,  have  been 
carried  into  effect  by  the  publishers.  The  book  is  now 


223167 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 

offered  to  the  public  and  to  that  wide  circle  of  friends  and 
business  associates  of  the  late  Luther  A.  Ransom,  who  did 
so  much  to  build  up  an  industry  which  is  becoming  a  great 
factor  in  the  industrial  development  of  the  South,  in  the 
hope  that  it  will  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  Southern 
people  the  fact  that,  in  the  cottonseed  industry,  they  have 
an  opportunity  for  making  their  section  of  our  country 
more  prosperous.  And  in  increasing  the  prosperity  of  the 
cotton  belt,  this  industry  will  aid  the  whole  country,  for 
it  is  not  only  bringing  foreign  gold  to  our  shores,  but  it  is 
supplying  to  all  the  people  pure  and  wholesome  food  prod- 
ucts at  a  lower  cost  than  the  other  foods  which  it  replaces. 
And  in  these  days,  Avheu  the  high  cost  of  living  is  a  most 
serious  problem,  anything  which  affords  relief  is  welcomed 
as  a  blessing.  If  this  book  will  encourage  the  farmers  to 
raise  better  seed,  the  crushers  to  produce  better  and  purer 
food  products  and  better  feed  for  cattle,  if  it  will  encourage 
the  Southern  farmers  to  raise  more  cattle,  feeding  them 
the  rich  foods  stored  up  in  the  cottonseed,  and  if  it  will 
induce  people  to  overcome  their  prejudices  and  eat  the 
wholesome  and  delicious  cottonseed  salad  oils,  hogless 
lards  and  oleomargarines,  then  will  the  purpose  of  the 
book  have  been  accomplished,  and  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try might  well  rise  up  and  call  the  memory  of  Luther  A. 
Ransom  blessed. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


Page 
PREFACE    9 

CHAPTER  1 13 

THE  GREAT  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  SOUTH-ITS  SMALL 
BEGINNINGS— ITS  RECENT  RAPID  DEVELOPMENT— THE  SALES 
OF  COTTONSEED  OIL  IN  ALL  THE  MARKETS  OF  THE  WORLD— 
THE  PIONEERS  IN  THE  BUSINESS— THE  SENSATIONAL  INCREASE 
IN  TRADING  IN  COTTON  OIL  ON  THE  NEW  YORK  PRODUCE 
EXCHANGE— THE  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  CRUDE  COTTONSEED  OIL 
MILLS— THE  FOREIGN  TARIFFS  ON  COTTON  OIL  AND  THEIR 
EFFECT  ON  THE  INDUSTRY— THE  REFINED  PRODUCTS— THE 
IMPROVEMENT  IN  REFINING  COTTON  OIL  AND  THE  RESULTS- 
EXPORTS— THE  INTERSTATE  COTTONSEED  CRUSHERS'  ASSO- 
CIATION AND  ITS  POWER  IN  PROMOTING  THE  INTERESTS  OF 
THE  INDUSTRY— A  GLANCE  AT  THE  FUTURE. 

CHAPTER    II 38 

COTTONSEED  AND  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS  (ADDRESS  BEFORE 
THE  COTTON  SCHOOL  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GEORGIA, 
ATHENS,  GA.,  JANUARY,  1908)— THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE 
FARMER  AND  THE  OIL  MILLS— HOW  EACH  IS  BENEFITED  BY 
AND  DEPENDENT  UPON  THE  OTHER— THE  PRODUCTS  MADE 
FROM  COTTONSEED  AND  HOW,  BY  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
THESE  PRODUCTS,  THE  MILLS  HAVE  GREATLY  INCREASED  THE 
VALUE  OF  THE  COTTON  CROP. 

CHAPTER    III 54 

THE  DAIRY  AND  OIL  MILL  INTERESTS  (ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE 
GEORGIA  DAIRY  ASSOCIATION,  GRIFFIN,  GA.)— HOW  THE  OIL 
MILL  HAS  BENEFITED  THE  DAIRY  INTERESTS  AND  CATTLE 
RAISING  INDUSTRY— HOW  THESE  COMBINED  INTERESTS  MAY 
BE  FURTHER  PROMOTED  BY  CLOSER  RELATIONS. 

CHAPTER   IV 63 

GEORGIA  PEOPLE  BUY  COTTON  OIL  IN  PREFERENCE  TO  HOGS' 
LARD— THE  SUPERIORITY  OF  COTTON  OIL  OVER  LARD. 


THE  GREAT 

6  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

CHAPTER   V 65 

A  REVIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
COTTON  OIL  INDUSTRY— NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITIES— A  SOUTH- 
ERN MONOPOLY-A  GROWTH  AS  SENSATIONAL  AS  THE  CALI- 
FORNIA GOLD  DISCOVERY  OF  '49— THE  VALUE  OF  THE  BY- 
PRODUCTS TO  THE  SOUTHERN  CATTLE  RAISER  AND  DAIRYMAN. 

CHAPTER  VI 75 

• 

ENGLISH  AND  AMERICAN  COTTONSEED  MILLS— COTTONSEED 
MEAL.  IN  DENMARK  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES— THE  HIGH 
QUALITY  OF  AMERICAN  COTTONSEED  OIL— THE  VALUE  OF 
VARIOUS  AMERICAN  FEED  STUFFS,  INCLUDING  COTTONSEED 
MEAL  AND  RULLS. 

CHAPTER  VII 79 

HOW  TO  INCREASE  THE  VALUE  OF  COTTONSEED  RRODUCTS 
(ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  INTERSTATE  COTTONSEED  CRUSHERS' 
ASSOCIATION  ANNUAL  MEETING  AT  NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  MAY 
16,  1905)— SOME  RESULTS  ACCOMPLISHED  BY  PUBLICITY. 

CHAPTER  VIII 83 

SOME  INTERESTING  FACTS  ABOUT  COTTONSEED  OIL,  HOW  IT 
MASQUERADED  UNDER  DIFFERENT  NAMES  IN  DIFFERENT 
COUNTRIES— HOW  IT  WAS  MIXED  AND  BLENDED  WITH  OTHER 
AND  INFERIOR  PRODUCTS— HOW  IT  WAS  FINALLY  PUT  ON  THE 
MARKET  UNDER  ITS  OWN  NAME  AND  TRIUMPHANTLY  WON 
ON  ITS  MERITS. 

CHAPTER  IX 85 

A  GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  COTTON  OIL  INDUSTRY  (ANNUAL 
ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  INTERSTATE  COTTONSEED  CRUSHERS' 
ASSOCIATION,  LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  MAY  19,  1908)— THE  WORK  OF 
THE  INTERSTATE  COTTONSEED  CRUSHERS'  ASSOCIATION  FOR 
THE  YEAR  1908— THE  CONDITIONS  AFFECTING  THE  INDUSTRY- 
ITS  IMMENSE  POSSIBILITIES— THE  CO-OPERATION  OF  THE 
NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  PROMOTING  ITS  INTERESTS— THE 
FOREIGN  TRADE— OLEOMARGARINE— GRADING  COTTONSEED- 
PUBLICITY  BUREAU— EXHIBITS  OF  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS. 

CHAPTER   X 123 

A  MODEST  LITTLE  STORY  OF  A  BIG  LITTLE  SEED— A  SHORT 
SKETCH  OF  THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  COTTON  OIL— PURITY  OF 
THE  PRODUCT— ITS  VARIOUS  USES— ITS  BENEFITS  TO  THE 
SOUTHERN  COTTON  GROWER. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Georgia  cotton  field,  yielding  over  one  bale  to  the  acre  ....     17 

A  modern  cotton  ginnery  at  Cartersville,  Ga.    Capacity  100 

to  125  bales  daily 21 

Cotton  ginnery  during  the  busy  season 25 

Type  of  modern  crude  oil  mill.  The  products  are  crude  cot- 
tonseed oil;  meal,  hulls  and  linters 29 

Herd  of  30  Jersey  cows  fed  on  cottonseed  meal.  They  fur- 
nish $100  of  cream  per  week 33 

Champion  cow  of  Georgia.  Gives  annually,  butter,  544.3; 
milk,  9,252.  "PEARL,"  the  best  cow  in  the  best  herd, 
under  daily  observation,  is  fed  on  cottonseed  meal  to  in- 
crease her  wonderful  production 37 

Cartoon,  "Getting  Together" 55 

Six  horses  and  a  mule,  which  get  a  daily  ration  of  cottonseed 

meal    59 

Colt  three  hours  old.    Dam  fed  on  cottonseed  meal  regularly  61 

Car go  of  cottonseed  meal  fertilisers  on  Chattahoochee  River.  67 

Exterior  view  of  large  cotton  oil  refinery 71 

Interior  view  of  large  cotton  oil  refinery 73 

Interior  view  of  cotton  oil  hogless  lard  plant 77 

Heart  of  the  American  sardine  packing  industry,  where  cot- 
ton oil  is  used  in  packing  -fish 107 

An  English  exhibit  of  cotton  oil  and  hogless  lard.  Confec- 
tioners' Exhibition,  London 113 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


THE  GREAT  COTTONSEED  INDUS- 
TRY OF   THE  SOUTH 


PREFACE. 

The  Cotton  Oil  Industry  of  the  South  is  unique.  It  is 
unusual  and  without  a  parallel.  Its  progress  and  develop- 
ment has  been  as  brilliant  as  it  has  been  useful.  The  field 
that  it  opened  for  the  investment  of  capital  has  been  a  most 
attractive  one,  although  it  has  not  always  been  a  profitable 
one  for  the  investor.  But  the  opportunities  it  has  afforded 
for  industrial  improvement,  thus  promoting  the  general 
good  of  the  country,  has  been  unequalled. 

The  student  of  political  economy  is  fascinated  by  the 
possibilities  of  a  proposition  that,  starting  out  with  a  raw 
material  practically  without  value,  converts  it,  in  twenty 
years,  into  products  worth  one  hundred  million  dollars. 
Large  sums  of  money  have  been  necessary  to  bring  about 
this  condition.  A  few  of  the  things  it  has  accomplished 
has  been  to  increase  the  transportation  business  of  the 
country,  the  payment  of  many  thousands  of  dollars  in 
wages,  the  employment  of  thousands  of  men,  the  annual 
increase  of  the  export  business  of  the  United  States,  the 
great  financial  and  economic  value  to  the  country  of  the 
production  of  cotton  oil,  thus  giving  to  the  consumer  a 
sweet  and  wholesome  product,  and  supplying  a  deficiency 
in  the  world's  shortage  of  olive  oil  and  butter,  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  soil  by  the  use  of  Cottonseed  Meal,  a  by-product 


THE  GREAT 

10  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

of  the  seed,  the  greatly  increased  development  of  the  dairy 
and  live-stock  interests  of  the  South  by  the  use  of  the  meal 
and  hulls,  the  establishment  of  mattress  factories  by  the  use 
of  the  linters,  and  the  erection  of  plants  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  machinery  used  in  operating  cotton  oil  mills.  While 
all  of  this  domestic  development  has  been  in  progress, 
cottonseed  products  have  invaded  the  great  olive  groves  of 
Europe  and  Asia,  competing  on  equal  terms  with  the 
products  of  the  ancient  olive,  while  the  chief  by-product, 
Cottonseed  Meal,  has  been  feeding  the  immense  herds  of 
cattle  in  Denmark  and  the  dairy  herds  of  England  and 
Holland.  When  all  of  this  has  been  considered  the  benefits 
of  this  wonderful  industry  command  the  attention  of  the 
students  of  industrial  conditions  in  all  countries. 

In  accomplishing  these  magnificent  results  the  industry 
has  been  of  almost  incalculable  value  to  the  immediate 
section  where  it  has  been  established.  It  adds  annually 
directly  to  the  value  of  the  cotton  crop  about  one  hundred 
million  dollars,  with  all  the  incidental  advantages  that  this 
direct  increase  brings  with  it.  It  is  building  packing- 
houses and,  in  time,  will  make  the  South  the  great  cattle- 
raising  section  of  the  Union.  The  ramifications  of  this 
industry  are  so  varied  that  they  penetrate  the  fields,  the 
factories  and  the  homes  of  the  people.  Although/its  chief 
product — oil — has  been  listed  and  traded  in  onvthe  New 
York  Produce  Exchange  for  a  comparatively  shorf'time, 
the  transactions  in  it  now  exceed  those  in  lard,  which  has 
held  a  high  place  for  many  years. 

Among  other  industries,  therefore,  the  cotton  oil  industry 
is  a  strong,  lusty  and  vigorous  young  giant.  Believing  that 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  11 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

such  an  industry  must  be  of  great  interest  to  the  thousands 
who  have  their  money  invested  in  it,  many  of  whom  know 
little  of  its  real  importance  and  progress,  as  well  as  to  those 
other  thousands  who  produce  and  handle  its  products,  and 
to  the  consumers  of  these  products,  I  have  brought  together 
in  these  pages  a  number  of  historical  and  industrial  articles 
treating  on  this  subject,  which  were  prepared  by  me  during 
the  last  five  or  six  years,  together  with  other  information 
that  has  not  heretofore  been  published,  and  this  is  sub- 
mitted with  the  hope  that  it  will  still  further  promote  the 
interests  of  an  industry  that  is  still  growing,  and  upon 
whose  success  depends  largely  the  financial  and  physical 
well  being  of  many  thousands  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  13 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  GREAT  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  SOUTH. 

ITS  SMALL  BEGINNINGS — ITS  RECENT  RAPID  DEVELOPMENT— 
THE  SALES  OF  COTTONSEED  OIL  IN  ALL  THE  MARKETS  OF  THE 
WORLD — THE  PIONEERS  IN  THE  BUSINESS — THE  SENSA- 
TIONAL INCREASE  IN  TRADING  IN  COTTON  OIL  ON  THE  NEW 
YORK  PRODUCE  EXCHANGE — THE  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  CRUDE 
COTTONSEED  OIL  MILLS — THE  FOREIGN  TARIFFS  ON  COTTON 
OIL  AND  THEIR  EFFECT  ON  THE  INDUSTRY — THE  REFINED 
PRODUCTS — THE  IMPROVEMENT  IN  REFINING  COTTON  OIL 
AND  THE  RESULTS — EXPORTS — THE  INTERSTATE  COTTON- 
SEED CRUSHERS'  ASSOCIATION  AND  ITS  POWER  IN  PRO- 
MOTING THE  INTERESTS  OF  THE  INDUSTRY — A  GLANCE  AT 
THE  FUTURE. 

Travelers  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  looking  across  to 
the  limestone  cliffs  and  hills  of  Southern  Europe  and 
Northern  Africa,  are  charmed  by  the  white  blooms  and 
grayish  green  foliage  of  the  olive  groves.  The  olive  is  sup- 
posed to  have  originated  in  Syria,  the  home  of  the  date,  the 
fig  and  pomegranate,  and  gradually  extended  through 
Spain,  Italy,  France  and  along  the  entire  Mediterranean 
coast.  The  waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  being  warmer  in 
winter  and  cooler  in  summer  than  the  air,  maintain  a 
uniformity  of  temperature  favorable  to  the  complete  devel- 
opment of  the  olive.  The  tree  is  partial  to  sea  breezes,  and 
this,  with  the  limestone  soils,  is  necessary  for  the  perfection 
of  the  fruit.  Its  production  must,  therefore,  be  confined 


THE  GREAT 

14-  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

largely  to  sections  where  such  conditions  of  soil  and  climate 
prevail. 

While  the  olive  has  been  grown  to  some  extent  in  Cali- 
fornia, Mississippi  and  Georgia,  its  fullest  development  in 
the  United  States  has  been  on  the  California  coast,  and 
even  there  the  output  is  comparatively  small. 

As  the  demand  for  olive  oil  and  other  edible  oils  in 
Europe  exceeded  the  production,  it  became  necessary  for 
consumers  to  look  elsewhere  for  an  oil  equally  as  good  to 
supply  the  shortage.  Nature,  which  never  permits  a 
vacuum  in  her  beneficial  scheme  of  production,  has 
selected  the  garden  land  of  America  to  fill  this  requirement. 

On  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Allegheny  range  and  in  the 
southern  valley  of  the  Mississippi  Elver,  with  two  mighty 
ranges  of  mountains  to  guard  it,  and  more  than  three  rivers 
to  water  its  fields,  its  temperature  equalized  by  the  waters 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  at  its  feet  and  the  waves  of  the  Atlan- 
tic on  the  east,  the  Eden  of  America,  whose  flaming  swords 
have  all  been  turned  into  ploughshares,  lies  basking  in  the 
brightest  sunshine  that  ever  smiled  upon  this  earth. 

The  delightful  climate  of  the  cotton  belt  of  the  South 
rivals  that  of  Italy,  the  scenery  of  the  country  is  as  charm- 
ing and  the  cotton  plant,  with  its  cream  and  crimson  col- 
ored blooms,  its  pure  white  fruit  and  dark  green  foliage, 
yields  nothing  in  point  of  beauty  by  comparison  with  the 
olive. 

Taken  altogether,  therefore,  it  was  natural  that  the 
Southern  States  of  the  Union  should  be  expected  to  supply 
any  deficiencies  in  the  products  of  other  countries  so  closely 
resembling  it  in  natural  conditions,  and  the  South  is  meet- 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  15 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

ing  fully  this  expectation  by  the  manufacture  of  its  cotton 
oil,  not  only  supplying  Europe,  but  the  rapidly  increasing 
domestic  demand. 

"Dr.  Benjamin  Waring  established  the  first  paper,  oil 
and  grist  mills  at  Columbia,  S.  C.,  and  expressed  from 
cottonseed  a  very  good  oil.'' 

This  is  the  brief  announcement  in  Mills'  "Statistics  of 
South  Carolina,"  published  in  1826,  of  the  birth  of  a  great 
industry  in  the  South.  Nothing  more  is  recorded  except 
that  Dr.  Waring  was  "a  great  encourager  of  useful  arts" 
and  was  State  Treasurer.  We  are,  therefore,  left  to  con- 
jecture as  to  other  conditions  existing  at  that  time  or  how 
much  this  mill  contributed  to  the  future  development  of  the 
industry,  but  we  can  imagine  what  might  have  caused  Dr. 
Waring  to  make  "a  very  good  oil"  from  cottonseed  and  how 
he  came  to  do  it. 

Being  a  professional  man  and  a  scholar  he  was  somewhat 
of  a  dreamer  and,  of  course,  a  student.  He  operated  a  grist 
mill  located  on  the  Congaree  River,  on  the  banks  of  the 
canal  that  furnished  the  power  to  run  the  mill.  He  doubt- 
less also  ran  a  small  cotton  gin  and  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
the  seed  they  were  thrown  into  the  canal  to  be  carried  off 
later  by  the  rise  of  the  river,  as  they  were  then  without 
value,  except  such  as  were  needed  for  replanting. 

Nearly  all  great  discoveries  are  made  by  accident.  Dr. 
Waring,  in  an  absent-minded  way,  probably  picked  up  a  few 
seed  and  thoughtlessly  placed  them  in  his  mouth.  They 
had  a  rich,  nutty  flavor  and  tasted  good.  This  increased 
his  interest,  and  he  further  noted  that  where  the  seed  had 
been  trampled  on  they  gave  off  a  rich,  golden-yellow  oil. 


THE  GREAT 

16  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTB 

He  concluded  that  if  the  flavor  of  the  seed  was  good  the  oil, 
if  properly  handled,  was  valuable.  He  probably  fitted  up 
a  crude  hand  press,  as  the  Chinese  had  done  two  thousand 
years  before  him,  and  expressed  the  oil.  He  was  further 
convinced  of  its  value,  and,  in  the  satisfaction  over  his 
discovery,  discussed  it  with  his  friends,  and  Mills  recorded 
the  discovery.  Or  it  is  possible  that  he  may  have  traveled 
in  England  and  heard  of,  or  visited,  the  cotton  oil  mill  of 
Foster  Brothers  at  Gloucester  that  had  been  there  in  active 
operation  for  one  hundred  years  before  Dr.  Waring  made 
his  investigations.  But,  whatever  was  the  cause  of  this 
early  attempt  toward  the  manufacture  of  cotton  oil,  it  has 
been  followed  by  one  of  the  South's  most  interesting  and 
most  important  developments. 

Georgia  had  an  oil  mill  in  1832,  but  its  history  is 
recorded  in  about  as  few  words  as  that  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina plant. 

The  commercial  importance  of  the  industry  had  its  be- 
ginning from  1850  to  1855.  It  had  just  begun  to  attract 
attention  when  its  further  development  was  arrested  by  the 
Civil  War  between  the  North  and  South.  The  pioneers  of 
the  fifties  were  Pierre  Paul  Martin,  Paul  Aldige  and  Am- 
brose A.  McGiaBi^  all  of  New  Orleans,  La.  Immediately 
after  the  war  attention  was  again  directed  to  the  business, 
and  General  E.  P.  Alexander,  formerly  of  Savannah,  Ga., 
established  a  mill  at  Columbia,  S.  C.,  in  1866.  Mr.  C.  E. 
Girardey  followed  with  another  mill  at  New  Orleans,  La., 
in  1868.  It  was,  however,  not  until  about  1880  that  the 
industry  actively  attained  commercial  importance  in  the 
South.  It  met  with  one  reverse  after  another  until  a  great 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


majority  of  the  mills  were  brought  under  the  ownership  of 
one  large  company,  which,  for  several  years,  practically 
controlled  the  output  of  all  of  the  mills. 

Among  the  leading  men  of  that  period  were  Mr.  J.  J. 


Georgia  Cotton  Field,  Yielding  Over  One  Bale  to  the  Acre. 

McCann,  of  Tennessee;  J.  F.  and  M.  J.  O'Shaughnessy,  of 
Tennessee;  Kobert  Gibson,  of  Texas;  George  A.  Morrison 
and  K.  F.  Munro,  of  New  York ;  Moses  Frank,  of  Georgia ; 
Jo  W.  Allison,  of  Texas ;  E.  M.  Durham,  of  Mississippi ;  A. 
D.  Allen,  of  Arkansas ;  T.  E.  Chancy,  of  Connecticut ;  J.  O. 


THE  GREAT 

If  C9TT9NSEE9  IN9U8TRT 

*F  THE  StUTH 

Carpenter,  of  Mississippi;  A.  E.  Thornton,  of  Georgia,  and 
George  O.  Baker,  of  Alabama. 

These  men  builded  well,  even  better  than  they  knew,  and 
laid  firmly  the  foundation  of  the  present  magnificent 
edifice. 

In  1887  the  Southern  Cotton  Oil  Company  entered  the 
field  with  mills  located  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama, Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana  and  Tennessee.  The 
establishment  of  these  mills  by  a  company  with  ample 
capital  gave  new  life  to  the  industry.  The  officers  were 
Henry  C.  Butcher,  of  Philadelphia,  president ;  John  Oliver, 
of  New  York,  treasurer ;  Fred  Oliver,  of  Charlotte,  general 
manager,  and  D.  A.  Tompkins,  of  Charlotte,  chief  engineer. 
They  had  associated  with  them  in  the  South  L.  W.  Haskell, 
at  Savannah;  C.  FitzSimons  and  J.  S.  Price,  at  Columbia; 
Henry  Oliver,  at  Atlanta;  A.  C.  Landry,  at  New  Orleans; 
Alston  Boyd,  at  Memphis;  J.  J.  Culbertson,  at  Little  Rock; 
E.  W.  Thompson  and  J.  W.  Black,  at  Montgomery,  and 
W.  G.  Kay,  at  Houston.  Many  of  these  men  are  actively 
engaged  in  the  business  at  this  time. 

The  industry  continued  to  grow  by  the  establishment  of 
many  smaller  mills  and  at  present  the  number  in  the 
United  States  exceeds  eight  hundred,  with  a  capital  of  over 
one  hundred  million  dollars. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  forty-five  crude  oil  mills  in 
the  State  of  Georgia.  Of  these,  one  hundred  and  seven  are 
owned  by  local  interests,  farmers,  bankers  and  merchants. 
The  other  thirty-eight  are  controlled  by  outside  capital. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  monopoly  in  the  business  in  Georgia, 
nor  anywhere  else  in  the  South.  These  mills  in  Georgia 


THE  GltEAT 

C*TT*NSEE9  IN&UST&Y  If 

#F  THE  S6UTH 

crush  about  450,000  to  500,000  tons  of  seed  annually  and 
produce  about  350,000  to  400,000  barrels  of  crude  oil,  from 
200,000  to  225,000  tons  of  meal,  125,000  to  150,000  tons 
of  hulls  and  35,000  to  40,000  bales  of  linters.  There  are 
four  refineries  in  Georgia,  two  operated  by  the  larger  com- 
panies and  two  by  the  local  mills.  There  are  two  hogless 
lard  plants  in  the  State. 

Competition  between  all  of  these  interest*  comes  in  the 
purchase  of  seed  and  the  sale  of  the  by-products — meal, 
hulls  and  linters.  Georgia  refiners  must,  of  course,  com- 
pete with  each  other  for  the  crude  oil,  and  with  the  re- 
fineries operated  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  the 
packers  of  the  West  and  European  buyers. 

Some  of  the  larger  companies  have  established  mills  for 
crushing  seed  as  well  as  refining  the  oil,  and  have  thus 
become  competitors  for  the  raw  material,  but  notwithstand- 
ing this  competition  the  small  mills,  by  reason  of  their 
nearness  to  the  cotton  fields,  are  able  not  only  to  market 
their  seed  without  freights,  but  can  dispose  of  their  by- 
products at  home,  where  they  are  needed  by  the  farmers, 
stock-raisers  and  dairymen,  at  less  expense  than  their 
larger  competitors.  These  advantages  will  probably  be 
sufficient  to  sustain  these  small  mills  in  any  competition 
coming  from  the  larger  interests,  although,  on  account  of 
this,  the  profit  of  the  home  mill  will  be  decreased. 

Nothing  shows  more  clearly  the  development  of  the  busi- 
ness than  the  contrast  between  Dr.  Waring's  little  enter- 
prise on  the  banks  of  the  Congaree  River  in  1826  and  the 
following  article  from  the  New  York  Herald  of  November 
12,  1909 : 


THE  GREAT. 

20  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

"Although  for  many  years  business  on  the  New  York 
Produce  Exchange  has  gradually  been  growing  smaller, 
there  is  one  department  that  is  growing  at  a  remarkable 
rate.  That  is  the  cottonseed  oil  department.  The  growth 
in  trading  in  this  commodity  has  been  so  great  that  the 
quarters  for  the  traders  who  specialize  in  that  line  are  to  be 
enlarged. 

"Cotton  oil  traders  are  to  have  a  pit  in  the  center  of  the 
big  exchange  floor.  At  present  the  cotton  oil  crowd  has 
a  little  circle  off  at  one  corner  of  the  room,  and  about  a 
dozen  brokers  crowd  the  limited  space.  A  pit  similar  to 
the  pit  on  the  cotton  exchange,  and  as  large,  is  to  be  pro- 
vided for  the  traders. 

"Only  a  few  years  ago  if  two  thousand  barrels  of  oil 
were  traded  in  it  was  counted  an  active  day's  market.  Now 
they  count  it  an  active  market  when  the  sales  aggregate 
40,000  barrels  in  a  day. 

"So  important  has  become  the  New  York  cottonseed  oil 
market  that  its  quotations  are  accepted  all  over  the  world 
as  a  basis  for  official  quotations,  and  the  figures  are  cabled 
to  all  parts  of  the  world  at  the  close  of  trading.  The  tele- 
graph companies  have  established  on  the  Produce  Ex- 
change permanent  offices  for  the  exclusive  dissemination  of 
cottonseed  oil  news. 

"  'There  is  more  than  $100,000,000  invested  in  the  cotton- 
seed oil  industry  in  this  country/  said  a  leading  specialist 
yesterday,  'and  the  commodity  is  becoming  more  and  more 
a  vehicle  for  speculation.  I  remember  when  total  sales  in 
the  market  would  not  average  more  than  2,000  barrels  a 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  21 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

day.  Yesterday  I  sold  10,000  barrels  myself  and  have  sold 
as  high  as  20,000  barrels  in  a  day.' 

"At  present  the  market  is  not  only  very  active,  but  prices 
are  very  high.  This  is  naturally  due  to  the  fears  of  a  short 
cotton  crop  as  regards  new  oil,  which  will  actually  appear 
next  month.  As  for  the  old  crop,  it  is  high  because  of  the 
exceptionally  fine  quality  of  the  oil,  the  product  last  year 
having  been  the  best  in  recent  years." 

What  is  known  as  a  crude  oil  mill  in  America  produces 


A  Modern  Cetttn  Ginnery  at  C&rtersville  }  Ga.     Capacity 

9aily. 


if) 


crude  cottonseed  oil,  cottonseed  meal,  hulls  and  linters.  In 
the  United  States  the  oil  is  the  most  valuable  product,  and 
this  commodity  gives  the  mill  its  name.  In  England  they 
are  called  cake  mills,  because  the  cake  is  more  valuable 
than  the  oil,  which  is  inferior  to  the  American  oil.  The 
English  mills  make  the  same  products,  except  hulls.  In 
England  the  hulls  are  all  ground  into  the  meal,  while  in 
this  country  they  are  separated. 


THE  GREAT 

22  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

(  The  crude  oil  is  sold  to  the  refiners,  who  convert  it  into 
refined  oil.  In  the  process  of  refining  the  crude  oil  the 
residue  is  called  "soap  stock'7  and  is  utilized  by  the  soap 
manufacturers  throughout  the  country. 

The  refined  oil  enters  into  the  manufacture  of  such  com- 
mercial products  as  salad  and  cooking  oils,  hogless  lard 
and  oleomargarine,  and  is  not  only  used  in  this  country, 
but  enters  into  competition  throughout  the  world  with  olive 
oil,  butter,  lard  and  similar  edible  greases. 
I  The  cottonseed  meal  is  the  ground  cake  and  is  used  for 
stock  feeding,  both  in  this  country  and  abroad  and  in  the 
Southern  States  enters  largely  into  the  manufacture  of 
commercial  fertilizers. 

1  The  lint,  which  is  the  short  cotton  cut  from  the  seed  is 
used  chiefiy  in  the  manufacture  of  mattresses,  pillows, 
comforts,  quilts  and  similar  articles,  and  in  foreign  coun- 
tries is  converted  into  gun  cotton,  known  as  the  highest  of 
explosives. 

I  The  hulls  are  used  only  in  the  South  for  stock-feeding, 
taking  the  place  of  hay,  corn,  fodder,  corn  shucks  and  sim- 
ilar products.  Experiments  already  made  indicate  that 
this  product  will  possibly  be  converted  into  paper  stock, 
which  will  give  it  a  higher  value  than  as  a  feed  stuff. 

There  is  not  an  article  produced  by  the  oil  mills  that 
cannot  be  used  in  some  form  by  the  grower  of  the  seed,  and 
just  as  the  values  increase  so  will  the  value  of  seed  for 
milling  purposes  be  enhanced.  It  is  not  difficult,  therefore, 
to  point  out  the  close  relation  existing  between  the  cotton 
farmer  and  the  cotton  oil^Rills.  Their  interests  are  mu- 
Uuai  and,  therefore,  the  more  of  these  products  the  farmers 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  23 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

consume  the  better  prices  they  will  realize  for  their  surplus 
seed — that  is,  the  seed  not  used  for  planting,  and  on  thej 
present  value  of  cottonseed  products  no  seed  should  be 
used  for  any  other  purpose  than  for  planting  or  milling. 
There  is  no  outlet  for  seed  that  gives  them  such  value  as  > 
the  oil  mills. 

Practically  all  of  the  profit  earned  by  the  cotton  oil  mills 
is  disbursed  in  the  locality  where  it  is  made.  If  there  was 
nothing  else  to  make  the  industry  popular,  this  fact  alone 
should  give  it  a  place  in  the  South  above  all  other  manu- 
facturing estabishments.  It  is  nearer  to  the  farmer  than 
all  other  factories.  It  is  now  operated  almost  on  the  basis 
of  the  local  grist  mill;  it  works  on  toll,  returning  to  the 
farmer  the  products  of  his  seed,  after  deducting  an  amount 
sufficient  to  cover  the  cost  of  production  and  a  reasonable 
profit — sometimes  no  profit  at  all. 

Cottonseed  oil  has  become  a  staple  product  in  European  f 
as  well  as  in  American  markets — in  fact,  it  largely  regu- 
lates all  of  the  markets  of  the  world  in  competition  with 
similar  products.  In  all  countries  its  high  qualities  are 
recognized,  and  in  no  country  is  it  regarded  as  having  any 
rival  of  equal  value,  with  the  possible  exception  of  olive 
oil.  In  comparison  with  all  edible  oils  it  stands  at  the  head.  , 

It  has  spread  over  Europe,  including  every  olive  country 
in  the  Mediterranean  basin.  It  has  been  the  subject  of 
tariff  laws  in  all  of  these  countries.  It  has  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  cabinets  and  governments  of  France,  Aus- 
tria, Spain,  Italy  and  Turkey.  Eecently  it  was  one  of  the 
articles  that  threatened  to  disturb  tariff  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  Germany  and  France.  When  the 


THE  GREAT 

24  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

last  tariff  bill  was  passed  by  the  United  States  the  Italian 
Ambassador  was  censured  by  his  countrymen  for  failing 
to  protect  their  interests  in  this  bill  by  bringing  about  such 
reciprocity  as  would  give  the  Italian  olive  growers  the  favor- 
able terms  which  they  thought  should  have  been  obtained. 

1  In  Turkey  the  olive  growers  threatened  some  years  ago  that 
if  cotton  oil  was  admitted  to  that  country  they  would  de- 
stroy their  groves  in  retaliation  for  such  action  by  their 

I  government.  This  Avas  finally  adjusted,  and  cotton  oil  is 
now  admitted  to  the  Ottoman  empire  free  of  all  duties. 
Spain  excluded  it  entirely  for  the  protection  of  their  olive 
growers  and  Austria  followed.  Germany,  France  and 
Italy  levied  heavy  taxes,  and  even  little  Servia  imposes  a 
tax  of  four  cents  per  pound  on  it,  but  in  spite  of  all  of  these 
artificial  barriers  to  the  sale  of  cottonseed  oil  it  has  moved 
steadily  forward  and  captured  the  world's  markets. 

The  highest  and  best  use  of  the  oil  is  as  an  edible  product. 
When  used  for  cooking  it  is  the  best  and  most  economical 
of  all  commodities  now  used  for  that  purpose,  not  only 
because  its  market  value  is  less  than  butter  and  lard,  but 
because  it  will  go  one-third  further  than  lard  and  equally 
as  far  as  butter. 

As  late  as  1879  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica  did  not  list 
cotton  oil  as  an  edible  product.  Later  even  than  this,  a 
Western  lard  manufacturer  thought  of  compounding  it 
with  hogs'  lard  and  was  warned  that  it  was  unwholesome, 
just  as  some  few  experts  had  warned  the  people  regarding 
the  "love  apple,"  which  came  afterward  to  be  known  as  the 
lucious  and  appetizing  tomato,  and  just  as  some  United 
States  Government  experts  have  warned  stock-feeders 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  25 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

against  the  use  of  cottonseed  meal  on  account  of  the  "toxic" 
qualities  contained  therein,  although  these  same  feeders 
throughout  Europe  and  America  were  then  fattening  whole 
herds  of  cattle  on  cottonseed  meal  in  England,  Holland, 
Denmark  and  on  the  plains  of  Texas.  The  lard  manufac- 
turer referred  to  submitted  samples  of  cottonseed  oil  to  the 


Cotton  Ginnery  During  the  Busy  Season. 

leading  chemists  of  Europe  and  America,  who  pronounced 
it  not  only  pure  and  absolutely  free  from  objectionable  mat- 
ter, but  one  of  the  best  of  all  vegetable  oils,  and  he  proceeded 
to  use  the  results  of  his  investigations  in  the  manufacture 
of  his  "pure  leaf  lard,"  which  product  became  one  of  the 
most  popular  commodities  of  its  kind  under  this  brand, 
and  has  continued  to  command  satisfactory  prices  on  the 


THE  GREAT 

26  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

market  advertised  under  its  own  brand  as  a  cottonseed  oil 
product. 

J  For  many  years  the  refiners  were  content  to  use  ordinary 
»  methods  of  refining,  which  produced  an  oil  which  had  left 
in  it  an  acrid  flavor  with  some  other  objectionable  features 
which  prevented  a  general  introduction  and  use  of  the  oil 
for  edible  purposes.  Efforts  were  made  to  get  it  into  gen- 
eral consumption,  but  after  the  expenditure  of  large  sums 
for  advertising,  and  without  materially  increasing  the  de- 
mand, the  manufacturers  found  it  more  profitable  to  export 
the  oil  to  foreign  countries,  where  it  was  used  in  blending 
with  olive  oil  and  in  the  manufacture  of  butter,  and  in  large 
quantities  returned  to  America  under  other  names,  greatly 
enhanced  in  value.  At  that  time  about  two-thirds  of  the 
oil  was  exported.  At  present  only  about  one-third  of  the 
oil  is  sent  to  foreign  countries. 

/  The  discovery  of  the  Wesson  process  of  refining  cotton 
oil,  by  which  the  product  was  put  on  the  market  in  a  con- 
dition of  absolute  purity  and  flavor,  gave  a  tremendous 
impetus  to  the  use  of  the  oil  in  America,  as  it  not  only 
proved  a  thoroughly  wholesome  product,  but  stimulated 
the  other  manufacturers  generally  to  the  production  of  bet- 
ter oils  than  they  had  previously  produced.  The  bakers 
were,  perhaps,  the  first  to  acknowledge  its  value  from  an 
economical  standpoint.  They  were  followed,  naturally,  by 
the  housekeepers  and  hotels  of  the  country,  and  at  present 
the  Wesson  brand  is  the  standard  of  excellence  for  all  cot- 
ton oil,  and  is  almost  as  well  known  to  the  hotels,  bakers 
and  households  as  flour,  hogs'  lard  and  butter. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  27 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Some  people  still  buy  "pure  olive  oil"  for  salad  purposes 
and  honestly  believe  that  it  is  superior  to  cotton  oil. 

"Pure  olive  oil"  is  not  much  more  than  a  catch  word, 
although,  of  course,  the  article  may  be  entirely  olive  oil. 
Much  of  the  olive  oil  used  locally  in  those  countries  where 
it  is  produced  for  cooking  purposes  is  so  rank  in  flavor  that 
an  American  consumer  would  not  touch  it,  nor  an  Amer- 
ican stomach  stand  it.  In  many  of  those  countries  the 
farmers  carry  the  olives  to  the  mills,  simply  have  the  oil 
expressed  and  then  put  up  in  bladders.  This  is  one  kind 
of  "pure  olive  oil." 

Why  should  any  cotton  grower  use  olive  oil  either  for 
salad  or  cooking  purposes  \vhen  he  can  get  cotton  oil  made 
from  his  own  seed  that  is  just  as  pure,  just  as  palatable  and 
in  many  cases  more  digestible  than  olive  oil?  Why  should 
any  cotton  farmer  buy  Western  lard  instead  of  hogless  lard 
or  cotton  oil  and  pay  just  as  much  for  it  per  pound  as  he 
pays  for  the  Southern  products  which  are  just  as  much 
his  own  products  as  the  meal  ground  at  the  grist  mills  from 
his  own  corn? 

In  European  countries  the  best  grade  of  cotton  oil  is  j 
used  for  salad  and  cooking,  also  in  the  manufacture  of  * 
various  kinds  of  butter  compounds,  called  oleomargarine, . 
etc.     In  those  countries  the  use  of  cotton  oil  in  this  way  is 
encouraged  by  the  governments  because  butter  has  become 
so  scarce  that  people  of  ordinary  means  are  unable  to  use  it 
and  desire  something  at  lower  prices  of  as  good  quality  as 
butter,  and  oleomargarine  answers  every  purpose  for  which 
butter  is  used. 

The  composition  of  this  product  is  about  sixty  per  cent. 


THE  GREAT 

28  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

of  fresh,  sweet  milk,  about  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  high- 
grade  cotton  oil  and  fifteen  per  cent,  of  oleo  stearine.  The 
formulas  and  percentages  of  each  ingredient  vary  in  differ- 
ent sections,  but  these  proportions  represent  the  average. 
Oleo  stearine  is  manufactured  from  the  choicest  of  beef 
fats,  thoroughly  inspected  by  the  government  before  it  is 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  oleomargarine.  It  is  used  only 
to  give  the  mixture  the  consistency  of  butter.  While  other 
governments,  just  as  careful  about  the  health  of  their 
people  as  our  own  government,  encourage  the  manufacture 
of  this  product,  our  government  levies  a  tax  on  oleomar- 

\  garine  of  two  cents  per  pound  if  uncolored  and  ten  cents 
per  pound  if  colored. 

I  Butter  manufacturers  use  a  harmless  coloring  matter, 
and  oleomargarine  manufacturers  would  do  so  if  permitted, 
simply  to  improve  the  appearance  of  the  product  and  cater 
to  the  prejudice  of  consumers,  who  prefer  the  golden-yellow 
color,  both  in  oleomargarine  and  in  butter,  to  the  white 
product, 

f  In  Denmark  the  people  last  year  used  over  60,000,000 
pounds  of  oleomargarine.  The  population  of  that  country 
is  only  2,000,000,  so  that  the  consumption  really  meant  over 
thirty  pounds  per  capita.  On  the  same  basis  the  American 
people  would  consume  3,000,000,000  pounds  per  annum, 
and  the  oil  needed  for  this  production  would  amount  to 
over  2,300,000  barrels,  possibly  two-thirds  of  the  produc- 
tion of  cotton  oil  in  this  country. 

In  1880  about  130,000  barrels  of  oil  were  exported  to 
European  countries  and  only  about  20,000  barrels  used  in 
the  United  States.  The  oil  is  now  exported  to  almost  every 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  29 

0^  THE  SOUTH 

civilized  country.  The  last  Treasury  statistics  report,  end- 
ing February  23,  shows  shipments  of  from  three  barrels  to 
Port  Maria,  Jamaica,  to  51,137  barrels  to  Rotterdam,  Hol- 
land. The  average  annual  exports  is  about  1,000,000  bar- 
rels, with  an  average  value  of  about  $16,000,000.  The  oil 
is  in  general  use  throughout  the  entire  Mediterranean 


Type  of  Modern  Crude  til  Mill.     The  Products  Are  Crude  Cot- 
tonseed Oil,  Meal,  Hulls  and  Linters. 

basin — the  home  of  the  olive  oil.     The  bulk  of  the  ship-; 
ments  go  to  England,  Holland,  Germany,  France  and  Italy  1 
The  value  of  the  exports  from  September  1  to  February 
24  amounted  to  about  |6,000,000.     Heavy  tariffs  levied  by; 
the  governments  of  Germany,  Italy,  France  and  Austria, 
together  with  the  substitution  of  other  vegetable  oils  for ' 
cotton  oil,  have  considerably  reduced  exports  from  this 
country,  but  the  decrease  of  the  use  of  the  oil  in  other  ' 


r, 


THE  GREAT 

30  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

countries  has  been  made  up  by  its  domestic  use.  The  total 
production  for  the  year  1909-1910  is  estimated  at  around 
3,000,000  barrels,  of  which  fully  2,000,000  barrels  will  be 
used  at  home.  This  remarkable  increase,  both  in  the  pro- 
duction and  consumption,  has  been  due  to  the  recognition 
of  the  high  value  of  the  product  both  in  this  country  and 
Europe. 

Next  to  oil,  cottonseed  meal  is  the  most  important  article 
of  the  mills.  Its  best  use  is  in  feeding  horses,  cattle,  sheep 
and  hogs,  but  considerable  quantities  of  it  are  still  used  as 
an  ammoniate  in  commercial  fertilizers.  In  addition  to 
the  amount  consumed  at  home  the  exports  of  cottonseed 
meal  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1909,  was  over  600,000 
tons,  valued  at  about  $16,000,000.  The  bulk  of  these  ship- 
ments have  gone  to  Denmark,  Germany,  Holland,  Norway, 
England,  Scotland  and  France.  Denmark  alone  took  over 
200,000  tons  and  Germany  nearly  as  much.  All  of  the 
ineal  shipped  to  these  foreign  countries  is  used  for  stock 
feeding.  Danish  bacon  is  famous  all  over  Europe,  and  it 
iV  said  that  the  hogs  from  which  this  bacon  is  raised  are  fat- 
tened on  cottonseed  meal. 

Linters  are  not  classified  in  the  Treasury  Department 
statistics  and,  consequently,  no  estimate  of  the  value  of  this 
product  can  be  made. 

The  total  annual  value  of  the  exports  of  all  cottonseed 
products  averages  about  $30,000,000. 

The  late  Colonel  George  W.  Scott,  of  Decatur,  Ga.,  was 
the  pioneer  in  the  use  of  cottonseed  meal  as  an  ammoniate 
for  commercial  fertilizers.  His  great  success  in  its  use 
was  quickly  adopted  by  other  manufacturers,  and  at  the 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  31 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

present  time  this  product  is  used  extensively  for  this  pur- 
pose. A  large  number  of  mills  have  fertilizer  factories  in 
connection  with  their  oil  mills.  On  account  of  their  loca- 
tion the  local  mills  are  able  to  deliver  to  the  farmers 
promptly  the  fertilizers  as  needed,  and,  having  the  meal  as 
one  of  their  raw  materials  on  hand,  they  are  able  to  manu- 
facture at  a  very  reasonable  cost.  Popularity  and  value  of 
meal  goods  is  now  well  known  to  all  of  the  cotton  farmers. 
They  are  directly  interested  in  its  use  because  it  gives  a 
greater  value  to  the  seed. 

I  The  history  of  the  njnj^o^is  of  the  cotton  oil  industry  is 
he  history  of  the  Interstate  Cottonseed  Crushers'  Asso- 
ciation, which  was  organized  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  July, 
1897.  The  officers  and  members  of  this  association  are 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cottonseed  products  and 
personally  interested  in  the  success  of  the  business.  They 
loyally,  diligently  and  successfully  devoted  their  time,  their 
intelligence  and  their  energy  to  the  promotion  of  the  in- 
dustry, in  which  not  only  they  were  personally  interested, 
but  the  interests  of  the  farmers  of  the  South  were  involved. 
Membership  in  this  association  is  the  standard  by  which 
men  engaged  in  the  industry  are  measured.  Kecognizing 
that  publicity  is  the  best  method  for  promoting  the  success 
of  any  product  worthy  of  recognition  the  association 
created  a  bureau  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  "Man  from 
Missouri,"  as  well  as  the  man  from  everywhere,  the  value 
of  cottonseed  products.  In  addition  to  informing  our  own 
people  on  this  subject  the  Bureau  of  Publicity  desired  to 
reach  the  world  at  large.  With  the  active  assistance  and 
encouragement  of  similar  State  organizations  and  of  the 


THE  GREAT 

32  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

State  Department  at  Washington  and  the  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor,  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
Hon.  John  M.  Carson,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures, 
a  special  agent,  representing  cottonseed  products,  was  sent 
to  all  parts  of  Europe  to  study  the  conditions  affecting 
these  products.  The  United  States  consuls  in  all  parts  of 
the  world  were  instructed  to  make  similar  investigations 
and  report  fully.  This  has  been  done  for  about  three  years, 
and  the  results  have  been  eminently  successful  and  satis- 
factory. 

The  publication  of  the  reports  from  the  special  agents 
and  consular  officers  in  American  newspapers,  trade  jour- 
nals and  periodicals  has  intensified  the  interest  in  the 
American  product  and  it  has  been  followed  by  a  greatly  in- 
creased demand  for  it  in  America.  So  greatly  has  the  do- 
mestic demand  increased  that  the  European  dealers,  finding 
the  price  so  high  in  America  as  to  make  its  use  almost 
prohibitive  to  them,  have  been  scouring  Europe  to  find 
some  substitute  for  it.  The  reports  of  trade  journals  and 
consular  reports  clearly  show  that  these  substitutes  are 
compared  with  cotton  oil  as  the  standard  before  being 
accepted.  The  exports  this  year  hardly  exceed  one-third  of 
last  year  at  the  same  time,  but  the  increased  demand  for  the 
oil  in  the  United  States  has  taken  all  the  surplus  heretofore 
exported. 

Favorable  responses  to  the  publicity  work  of  the  asso- 
ciation came  much  more  quickly  from  the  foreigners  than 
from  our  own  people,  especially  our  farmers,  who  are  more 
vitally  interested  than  the  people  of  any  other  country,  and 
while  the  farmers  are  showing  much  more  interest  than 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  33 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

formerly,  many  of  them  still  do  not  fully  recognize  the 
superiority  of  cottonseed  products  over  all  competing  com- 
modities. Some  of  them  still  believe  that  olive  oil  is  better 
for  salads  and  cooking,  because  they  have  believed  it  all  of 
their  lives,  and  some  of  them  seem  to  think  that  hogs'  lard 
is  as  good  as  hogless  lard.  Time,  however,  will  correct  all 
of  this  at  home.  The  recognition  of  the  full  value  of  cotton 
oil  and  its  products  is  fast  coming,  if  it  has  not  already 
arrived.  There  is,  however,  a  more  serious  condition  re- 


Herd  of  Thirty  Jersey  Cows  Fed  on  Cottonseed  Meal.     They 
Furnish  $100  of  Cream  Per  Week. 

garding  the  by-products — cottonseed  meal  and  hulls. 
While  these  products  are  very  generally  used  by  our  dairy- 
men and  stockmen,  some  of  them  continue  to  use  corn  and 
oats  and  mixed  Western  feeds  for  stock  feed,  allowing 
New  England  and  Europe  to  haul  away  the  meal  and  hulls 
from  their  very  doors.  Some  farmers  continue  to  use  blood 
and  other  animal  ammoniates  in  their  fertilizers,  ordered 
from  Western  slaughter-houses,  instead  of  using  cottonseed  / 
meal-  the  best  ammoiiiate  in  the  world.  They  do  not  seem 
to  realize  that  this  is  a  most  wasteful  method.  Those 
farmers  who  do  this  are  acting  contrary  to  their  own  inter- 


THE  GREAT 

34  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

ests,  directly  and  indirectly.  By  their  failure  to  co-operate 
with  the  oil  mills  they  are  depreciating  the  value  of  their 
cottonseed.  Such  a  policy  is  unwise  and  wasteful.  The 
mills  can  stand  it  better  than  the  farmers,  because  the  peo- 
ple of  every  other  country  need  and  take  the  meal.  Our 
farmers  possibly  do  not  understand  that  there  is  not  a 
farm  of  seventy-five  acres  in  Georgia  that  cannot  raise  some 
beef  cattle,  practically  without  cost,  as  the  droppings  from 
cattle  fed  on  cottonseed  meal  and  hulls,  properly  cared  for, 
is  worth  as  much  as  the  meal  and  hulls  are  as  a  fertilizer 
before  being  fed.  If  a  general  policy  of  feeding  some  cattle 
on  every  farm  was  adopted  by  our  farmers  it  would  lead  to 
the  establishment  of  packing-houses,  and  this  would  make 
the  South  the  great  live  stock  section  of  America.  Instead 
of  bringing  into  Georgia  about  $750,000  worth  of  beef  every 
week,  and  sending  that  much  money  out  of  Georgia,  as  one 
packer  has  recently  stated :  Georgia  would  be  shipping  beef 
to  other  States  and  bringing  into  the  State  an  equal  amount 
or  more  money  than  they  are  now  sending  away.  The 
benefit  of  the  change  is  easily  understood. 

Dr.  A.  M.  Soule,  president  of  the  Georgia  College  of  Agri- 
culture, in  an  address  recently  delivered  at  Macon,  shows 
that  by  the  use  of  cottonseed  meal  as  a  feed  for  mules  the 
farmers  of  Georgia  can  raise  as  fine  mules  as  the  West  at 
a  cost  of  about  $60,  instead  of  $160,  average  cost  per  head  of 
Western  stock.  Judge  Henry  C.  Hammond,  of  Augusta, 
has  shown  by  his  own  personal  experience  of  years  that 
horses  as  work  stock  can  be  economically  and  successfully 
raised  and  worked  on  cottonseed  meal  feed. 

Opportunities  on  these  lines  are  almost  limitless  and  in 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  35 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

time  will  be  fully  utilized,  but  every  day  that  this  is  post- 
poned is  deferring  the  further  and  greater  and  general  _ 
prosperity  of  this  section. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Interstate  Cottonseed 
Crushers'  Association  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  May,  1908,  the 
president  of  the  association  cited  the  reports  of  consular 
officers  and  special  agents  showing  the  great  interest  inl 
cotton  oil  in  foreign  countries  and  America  and,  based  on\ 
these  reports,  predicted  a  shortage  in  vegetable  oils,  and 
consequently  the  high  prices  that  would  follow.  The 
cotton  oil  interests  of  the  South  realized  this  year  the 
soundness  of  the  prediction:  the  shortage  developed  and 
the  high  prices  followed — the  highest  for  cotton  oil  ever 
known.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  nothing  less  than  a  financial 
panic  can  bring  about  much  lower  prices  in  years  to  come. 
The  population  of  the  world  is  increasing,  while  the  pro- 
duction of  vegetable  oils  shows  no  appreciable  increase,  ani 
new  uses  are  being  found  for  all  of  these  oils.  A  butl 
shortage,  almost  a  famine;  already  exists,  and  it  is  said  thj 
in  some  parts  of  Europe  the  people  have  not  seen  real  butl 
in  twenty  years.  Oleomargarine,  composed  largely  of 
cotton  oil,  has  satisfactorily  supplanted  it.  The  demand 
for  this  commodity  is  constantly  increasing,  necessitating 
a  greater  consumption  of  cotton  oil.  Hogless  lard  com-*"*' 
pounds  are  more  generally  used  every  year  and  cotton/ 
oil  is  the  largest  factor  in  the  manufacture  of  this  product, 
while  the  demand  for  the  oil  itself  is  constantly  increasing. 
There  is  nothing  in  present  conditions  to  indicate  that  \ 
cotton  oil  will  ever  reach  the  former  low  levels  of  prices. 

In  answer  to  questions  from  an  old  Confederate  veteran 


THE  GREAT 

36  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

at  Mount  Airy,  Ga.,  I  told  hi  in  how  we  now  made  cotton  oil 
that  fed  the  people  in  place  of  butter  and  lard ;  cottonseed 
meal  that  was  now  used  in  making  bread,  taking  the  place 
of  wheat  and  corn  bread,  and  how  this  commodity  further 
supported  and  fattened  horses,  mules,  cattle  and  hogs,  fer- 
tilized ihe  land  and  made  big  crops  of  all  kinds;  linters 
that  were  used  in  the  manufacture  of  quilts,  mattresses, 
pillows  and  paper,  as  well  as  gun  cotton,  and  hulls  that 
took  the  place  in  feeding  cattle  of  timothy  hay,  corn  fodder, 
shucks  and  all  other  roughage.  As  I  continued  to  enumer- 
ate these  products  and  their  use,  the  old  soldier  jumped  to 
his  feet  and  said :  "If  we  had  had  oil  mills  during  the  war 
the  Yankees  could  never  have  whipped  us."  After  cooling 
down  a  litle  he  added:  "You  know  the  Yanks  never  did 
whip  us,  they  just  starved  us  out,  and  they  could  never  have 
done  this  If  we  had  had  oil  mills,"  and  the  old  hero  almost 
wept  over  the  neglected  opportunities. 

It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  question  of  "whipping  the 
Yanks"  will  ever  come  up  for  consideration  again,  but  the 
veteran's  view  of  the  possibilities  of  cottonseed  products 
was  not  overrated. 

The  farmer  in  selling  his  seed,  the  mills  in  crushing  them, 
the  refiners  in  putting  the  oil  in  marketable  condition,  the 
brokers  who  have  handled  the  product  and  the  trade  jour- 
nals which  have  advertised  them  have  all  done  their  part  in 
the  development  of  this  great  industry.  If  they  would  all 
pull  together,  the  farmer  using  the  mills-  products  more 
extensively,  the  crude  mill  recognizing  its  dependence  upon 
the  farmer  for  its  seed,  the  refiner  dealing  liberally  with 
the  crude  mill  for  his  oil,  the  brokers  increasing,  so  far  as 


THE  GREAT 
COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


37 


possible,  the  value  of  the  products  and  the  trade  journals 

continuing  to  do  their  splendid  part  in  the  work,  the  money 

* 

value  of  the  product  of  this  industry  would  be  greatly 


Champion  Cow  of  Georgia.     Gives  Annually,  Butter  544-3,  Milk 

9,252.  "Pearl"  the  Best  Cozv  in  the  Best  Herd,  Under 

Daily  Observation,  is  fed  on  Cottonseed  Meal 

to  Increase  Her  Wonderful  Production. 

enhanced,  and  it  is  not  impossible,  if  this  is  done,  that  we 
may  soon  be  able  to  report,  as  an  accomplished  fact,  that 
the  value  of  the  seed  is  equal  to  the  value  of  the  cotton 
itself. 


THE  GREAT 

38  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER    II. 
COTTONSEED  AND  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS. 

(Address  before  the  Cotton  School  of  the  University  of 
Georgia,  Athens,  Ga.,  January,  1908.) 

THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  FARMER  AND  THE  OIL  MILLS- 
HOW  EACH  IS  BENEFITTED  BY  AND  DEPENDENT  UPON  THE 
OTHER — THE  PRODUCTS  MADE  FROM  COTTONSEED  AND 
HOW,  BY  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  THESE  PRODUCTS,  THE 
MILLS  HAVE  GREATLY  INCREASED  THE  VALUE  OF  THE 
COTTON  CROP. 

I  read  a  story  some  time  since  about  a  man  who  said  lie 
was  going  out  to  give  his  friends  some  good  advice  about 
their  business.  He  returned  very  shortly  and,  on  being 
asked  whether  or  not  he  had  carried  out  his  intentions,  he 
said  he  had  not,  because  as  soon  as  he  undertook  to  tell 
his  friends  something  about  their  business  they  tried  to 
advise  him  about  his  business,  and  that  was  one  thing  he 
would  not  allow  anybody  to  do.  I  don't  want  you  to  think 
I  am  advising  you  entirely  about  your  business,  because  in 
the  proposition  I  am  expected  to  discuss  I  am  almost  as 
much  interested  as  you  are. 

You  have  been  told,  and  will  be  told  by  others,  all  about 
the  selection  of  seed  for  planting  and  the  advantages  to 
you  in  doing  this  from  an  increased  yield  of  the  fibre.  My 
part  of  the  program  in  this  respect  is  to  tell  you  how  you 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  39 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

may  benefit  by  a  better  selection  and  handling  of  the  seed 
by  increasing  the  value  of  the  seed  itself  and  to  explain^ 
to  you  how  the  oil  mills  will  be  benefited  by  such  action 
on  your  part. 

If  1  was  asked  broadly  to  state  how  this  result  may  be 
accomplished  quickest  I  would  answer :    First,  plant  better 
seed  and  take  better  care  of  them,  and,  second,  buy  more  of  i 
the  products  of  the  oil  mills. 

If  you  want  to  get  more  money  for  your  seed  you  must 
furnish  the  mills  better  seed  and  you  must  consume  as 
much  of  their  product  as  possible,  which  will  increase  the 
value  of  the  products  and,  necessarily,  enhance  the  value  of 
the  seed. 

When  George  Francis  Train  was  asked  how  Kansas  City 
could  become  as  large  a  pork-packing  center  as  Chicago,  he 
answered,  "Kill  more  pigs."  On  the  same  line,  to  get 
better  prices  you  must  furnish  better  seed  and  you  must 
buy  more  of  the  products  of  the  seed. 

In  a  report  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor, 
1906,  published  under  the  direction  of  the  Director  of  the 
Census,  it  is  stated : 

"Possibly  the  most  difficult  problem  in  connection  with 
the  cottonseed  products  industry  is  the  proper  storing  and 
preservation  of  these  seed.  The  lint  is  almost  waterproofs* 
and  is  but  little  injured  in  passing  from  the  field  to  the 
factory,  but  not  so  with  the  seed,  which  is  very  easily 
injured  and  reaches  the  mill  in  much  worse  condition  rela- 
tively than  the  lint.  In  wet  seasons  this  depreciation 
amounts  to  a  large  percentage  of  the  value  of  the  seed,  and 
the  products  from  such  damaged  seed  must  be  sold  for  very 


THE  GREAT 

40  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

inferior  uses.  The  value  of  the  oil  shipped  depends  upon 
the  condition  of  the  seed  when  it  reaches  the  mill.  Evi- 
dently the  products  manufactured  from  cottonseed  would 
be  more  useful  and  valuable  if  they  were  carefully  handled 
and  the  good  and  bad  seed  kept  separate.  To  accomplish 
this  the  co-operation  of  the  grower,  ginner  and  miller  is 
required." 

A  seed  crop  worth  one  hundred  million  dollars  to  the 
South,  and  which  if  it  were  all  converted  into  cottonseed 
products  would  add  more  than  another  hundred  million 
dollars  to  the  value  of  the  manufactured  products  of  the 
South,  is  worth  saving  and  is  worth  your  most  serious  con- 
sideration. 

r  The  establishment  of  oil  mills  in  Georgia  has  made  the 
value  of  your  seed  crop  this  year  equal  to  the  cost  of  all  .the 
commercial  fertilizers  used  by  you  under  all  of  the  crops 
planted  in  Georgia  of  every  kind  and  character,  while  the 
excess  over  the  cost  of  fertilizers  will  pay  the  cost  of  gin- 

i  ning  and  packing  the  cotton  crop ;  or  the  value  of  the  seed 
crop  will  pay  all  the  cost  of  picking  your  cotton  and  gin- 

/  ning  it,  including  the  cost  of  the  bagging ;  or  it  will  pay  the 
cost  of  the  fertilizer  and  the  ginning  and  packing  of  the 
cotton  crop  of  the  State.  The  mills  further  add  to  this 
magnificent  sum  by  converting  the  seed  into  edible  oil  rival- 
ing the  famous  olive  oil  of  Europe;  and  by  transforming 
this  oil  into  products  as  useful  and  more  wholesome  than 
any  animal  fat,  and  still  further  increase  these  values  by 
manufacturing  from  the  seed  a  stock  food  exceeding  in 
feeding  value  all  other  known  feeding  materials. 

They  also  encourage  the  dairy  interests  of  the  South  and 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  41 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

will  eventual  y  create  a  great  cattle  industry,  followed  by 
the  establishment  of  packing-houses. 

Does  not  this  increase  in  value  of  Georgia  productions 
and  the  uses  to  which  these  products  are  put  convince  you 
of  the  great  waste  of  wealth  when  any  of  the  seed  not 
needed  for  planting  are  used  for  any  other  purpose  than 
milling?  And  does  it  not  further  convince  you  that  you 
should  co-operate  with  the  mills  in  improving  the  quality 
of  rhe  seed  by  better  care  and  handling  and  by  using  exten- 
sively the  products  from  the  seed  ? 

When  you  are  tempted  to  use  cotonseed  for  feeding  stock 
or  for  fertilizing  the  land  you  should  remember  that  in 
every  bushel  of  seed  used  you  are  absolutely  throwing  away 
about  two-thirds  of  a  gallon  of  the  best  oil  known  to  the 
woi^ld.  When  you  feed  seed  to  cattle,  even  the  finest  Jersey 
ever  bred,  it  is  like  "casting  pearls  before  swine."  Fertiliz- 
ing the  land  with  it  no  crop  ever  grown — not  even  our 
"King  Cotton,"  or  his  royal  brother,  held  sacred  and  wor- 
shipped by  the  Hindus — would  countenance,  because  of  the 
wanton  waste  of  such  splendid  material. 

Mr.  Edward  Lehman  Johnson,  of  Memphis,  Tenn.,  who 
has  had  many  years  of  experience  in  operating  oil  mills 
and  who  is  a  well  known  writer  on  this  subject,  estimates 
that  the  damage  to  the  cottonseed  crop  of  the  South  an- 
nally  is  about  ten  million  dollars,  due  almost  entirely, 
except  in  very  bad  seasons,  to  the  careless  and  negligent 
methods  of  handling  these  seeds  at  the  ginneries  and  on  the 
farms. 

If  the  mills  should  use  some  of  the  seed  shipped  them  in 
making  oil  this  oil  would  have  no  better  flavor  or  taste 


THE  GREAT 

42  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

than  the  olive  oil  made  from  fruit  that  matures  early  and 
drops  from  the  trees,  and  which  a  writer  describes  as  "de- 
testable." 

The  average  seed  received  from  the  mills  is  of  almost 
every  known  variety  and  contains  a  certain  amount  of 
immature  bolls,  trash  and  other  foreign  matter.  Our 
Athens  manager  once  sent  me  several  rifle  cartridges  taken 
from  the  seed  by  the  cleaning  machinery.  Improved  clean- 
ing machinery  extracts  from  the  seed  a  large  amount  of 
similar  substances,  including  nails,  bolts,  screws,  keys  and 
rocks.  All  this  adds  to  the  weight  of  the  seed  and  costs 
the  mill  as  much  money  as  the  seed  itself,  but  does  not 
yield  oil  or  meal  and,  consequently,  is  valueless  to  the  mills 

Hundreds  of  tons  of  seed  are  lost  every  year  by  the 
loose  way  in  which  seed  are  scattered  around  the  ginneries 
and  seed  houses.  Claims  for  shortage  in  weights  are  often 
made  on  the  mills  by  shippers  who  waste  the  seed  in  this 
manner.  Sometimes  the  farmers  who  haul  the  seed  to  the 
mill  and  the  shippers  mix  the  good  seed  with  the  bad;  the 
mills,  of  course,  grade  all  such  seed  as  bad,  as  the  products 
from  such  seed  can  only  be  used  for  such  purposes  as  in- 
ferior seed  will  produce.  A  small  amount  of  such  off- 
quality  seed  depreciates  the  entire  shipment. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Interstate  Cottonseed  Crushers'  Asso- 
ciation, held  in  Atlanta  about  two  years  ago,  Mr.  E.  Van 
Winkle,  of  Atlanta,  a  well-known  manufacturer  of  oil  mill 
machinery,  suggested  to  the  convention  that  a  standard  for 
seed  should  be  established  and  all  shipments  graded  on  the 
same  plan  as  wheat,  corn,  oats  and  other  grains  then  desig- 
nated and  that  all  shipments  should  be  graded  up  or  down 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  43 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

from  this  standard.  Certainly,  such  a  plan  would  be  fair 
and  just  to  all  parties.  But  nothing  was  done  at  that  time, 
as  it  was  thought  best  to  interest  the  farmers  themselves  in 
this  matter.  If  you  farmers  will  consider  and  discuss  it  in 
your  various  organizations  you  will  bring  about  an  im- 
provement much  quicker  than  it  is  possible  for  the  mills 
to  accomplish. 

The  invisible  loss  in  milling  cottonseed  varies  from  five 
to  ten  per  cent.,  clue  very  largely  to  the  quality  of  the  seed 
and  the  foreign  substances  mixed  with  it.  Even  when  all 
the  seed  are  sound  some  are  not  fully  matured  and  also 
contain  a  large  percentage  of  motes,  bolls,  trash,  etc.,  which 
have  to  be  separated  from  the  seed  before  the  seed  are 
crushed,  and  is  a  total  loss  to  the  mills.  This  waste  costs  \ 
the  mills  as  much  money  as  the  perfect  seed. 

So  far  as  I  know,  there  has  never  been  any  investigation 
to  determine  the  effect  of  soil,  climate,  fertilization  or  culti- 
vation on  the  value  of  cottonseed  for  milling  purposes. 
Doubtless  this  Avill  come  with  the  progress  of  the  cotton  oil 
industry.  In  the  meantime,  the  mills  have  been  governed 
in  their  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  seed  by  the  different^ 
varieties  grown  and  by  the  results  of  chemical  analyses  of 
such  varieties  and  the  actual  yield  of  products  obtained 
in  milling.  In  referring  to  analyses  you  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  chemist  uses  only  one  hundred  seed  in 
making  each  test,  and  that  there  is  over  six  million  in  a 
ton,  consequently,  analyses  are  only  approximately  correct 
and  answer  only  for  comparisons. 

These  analytical  and  practical  tests  of  seed  have  shown  ( 
that  the  black  varieties,  practically  free  from  fiber,  give 


r 


THE  GREAT 

44  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

the  highest  yield  of  oil  and  meal.  This  larger  percentage 
of  oil  is  due  to  some  extent  to  the  fact  that  the  seed  do 
not  contain  any  lint  and  are  almost  entirely  free  from  any 
foreign  matter. 

The  green  seed  show  by  analyses  and  tests  as  second  in 
Talue  to  the  black  seed  for  milling  purposes,  and  the  white 
varieties  give  the  lowest  results  in  yields  of  products. 

The  quantity  of  oil  available  by  the  best  milling 
processes  is  only  about  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  quantity 
shown  by  analyses  to  be  in  the  seed,  while  ordinary  milling 
processes  produced  even  smaller  yield.  This  must  be  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  the  analyses. 

This  is  a  sample  of  Sea  Island  seed,  used  in  Georgia  by  the 
coast  mills  in  the  section  where  this  variety  is  grown. 
These  seed  contain  by  analysis  about  twenty-two  and  one- 
half  per  cent,  oil,  about  thirty  per  cent,  of  protein,  or  about 
6  per  cent,  ammonia. 

This  is  a  sample  of  what  is  known  as  the  Peterkin,  a 
hybrid  black  variety,  almost  entirely  free  from  fiber. 
These  seed  are  now  grown  in  all  parts  of  the  State  and 
almost  every  shipment  contains  some  of  them.  In  some 
sections  of  the  State  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  total 
receipts  at  the  mills  are  of  this  variety.  Analyses  show 
that  they  contain  about  twenty-two  and  one-half  per  cent, 
of  oil  and  about  twenty-one  per  cent,  of  protein,  or  four  per 
cent,  ammonia. 

This  is  a  typical  sample  of  green  seed  and  contains  about 
twenty-two  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  oil  and  about  eighteen 
per  cent,  of  protein  or  eight  and  one-half  per  cent,  of 
ammonia. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  45 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

This  sample  represents  the  best  type  of  the  white  variety, 
planted  most  extensively  in  Georgia.  It  contains  only 
about  eighteen  and  three-quarters  per  cent,  of  oil  and 
seventeen  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  protein,  or  three  and 
one-quarter  per  cent,  ammonia. 

None  of  the  varieties,  except  Sea  Island  come  to  the  mills 
free  from  trash. 

This  type  represents  an  average  sample  as  the  seed  are 
received  at  the  mills.  They  are  mixed  with  all  varieties, 
consequently  sometimes  show  a  larger  amount  of  oil  than 
white  seed  because  of  the  large  percentage  of  black  and 
green  varieties  mixed  with  them.  Average  seed  like  these 
will  show  about  twenty-one  per  cent,  of  oil,  eighteen  per 
cent,  protein,  or  three  and  one-half  per  cent,  ammonia  after 
being  cleaned  of  trash  and  foreign  substances. 

Some  recent  examinations  of  seed  representing  samples 
from  all  parts  of  the  State  show  about  thirteen  per  cent, 
black,  about  sixty-nine  per  cent,  white  and  eighteen  per 
cent,  green. 

These  comments  on  the  different  varieties  are  based  on 
good,  sound,  dry  seed.  Slightly  damaged  seed  sometimes 
contain  as  large  a  percentage  of  the  niotes  arid  kernels  as 
sound  seed,  but  if  badly  damaged  the  kernels  will  weigh 
only  a  small  proportion  of  the  amount  of  the  kernels  in 
sound  seed ;  but  in  both  cases  the  oil  is  unfit  for  use  except 
in  the  soap  kettle,  and  the  meal  is  fit  only  for  fertilizer 
purposes. 

This  is  a  sample  of  trash,  etc..  separated  from  the  seed 
before  milling. 

I  show  you  here  a  sample  of  sound  and  damaged  seed 


THE  GREAT 

46  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

and  of  prime  oil  and  meal  made  from  the  good  seed  and 
similar  samples  of  oil  and  meal  made  from  damaged  seed. 
You  can  readily  see  the  difference. 

The  refining  loss  on  oil  made  from  good,  sweet  seed  is 
*  usually  between  five  and  six  per  cent.  On  oil  made  from 
damaged  seed  this  loss  will  run  from  ten  to  thirty  per  cent., 
or  even  higher,  showing  the  annual  loss  to  the  mills  from 
seed  not  carefully  handled.  The  oil  made  from  sweet  seed 
is  a  perfectly  edible  product;  Avhen  made  from  damaged 
seed  its  color  and  flavor  are  depreciated  and  it  is  used  only 
for  inferior  purposes. 

The  damage  to  seed  results  from  excessive  moisture  and 
from  exposure  to  the  weather  of  the  seed  cotton  or  the  seed, 
and  from  germination  when  stored  in  houses  where  the  heat 
from  large  piles  of  seed  produces  germination.  Sometimes 
in  parts  of  the  State  cotton  is  picked  and  piled  in  the  fields 
and  then  left  for  days  and  even  Aveeks  during  the  rainy 
weather.  Consequently,  th'e  mills  in  that  section  rarely 
ever  make  prime  oil.  Of  course,  the  seed  heat  and  are 
often  badly  damaged  before  the  cotton  is  ginned.  In  a 
recent  investigation  I  found  that  in  one  section  of  the 
State,  where  the  conditions  mentioned  prevail,  over  thirty 
per  cent,  of  the  seed  wrere  badly  damaged  and  all  of  them 
more  or  less  damaged,  while  the  average  amount  of  damage 
for  the  entire  State  did  not  exceed  six  per  cent, 

To  prevent  damage  to  seed  requires  only  the  exercise  of 
ordinary  business  intelligence.  The  seed  cotton  should 
never  be  allowed  to  lie  out  in  the  field.  If  the  farmer  is  not 
prepared  to  gin  it  when  picked  he  should  at  least  not  allow 
it  to  be  exposed  to  the  weather.  But  if  the  seed  cotton  is 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  47 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

stored  under  shelter  the  pile  should  be  opened  often  and 
exposed  to  sunlight  in  order  that  the  moisure  may  be  dried 
out.  This  is  especialiy  true  of  the  early  picked  cotton,  bufr 
really  applies  to  all.  The  seed  should  never  be  stored  in 
great  piles  in  warm  houses  when  moisture  is  created  ana, 
heating  and  damage  follow,  and,  of  course,  they  should 
never  be  left  without  shelter  in  rainy  weather.  Whenever  „ 
stored  they  should  be  opened  to  the  sunlight  often.  A  few 
simple  precautions  of  this  sort  would  result  in  the  saving 
of  thousands  of  tons  of  seed  that  are  wasted  every  year.  I 
think  some  of  my  farmer  friends  may  say  that  such  seed  are 
not  wasted  because  they  are  used  for  fertilizer,  but  in  com- 
parison to  the  value  of  the  seed  for  milling  purposes  I  must 
contend  that  they  are  wasted.  In  some  parts  of  the  South 
where  they  do  not  use  fertilizers  the  damaged  seed  are  en- 
tirely and  absolutely  wasted. 

In  order  to  impress  upon  you  the  necessity  for  properly 
handling  your  cottonseed,  in  your  interest  as  well  as  that 
of  the  oil  mills,  and  to  give  you  some  idea  of  the  importance 
of  the  great  cottonseed  crushing  industry,  I  will  show  you 
samples  of  the  products  that  are  made  from  the  seed. 

To  convert  the  seed  into  these  products  over  one  hun-  \ 
dred  million  dollars  is  invested  in  the  United  States  alone, 
in  over  eight  hundred  establishments,  employing  possibly 
forty   thousand   men;    these   various   establishments   are 
located  in  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  many  others  in  various  t 
parts  of  the  European  countries.     These  industries  have 
increased  the  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States  over  thirty 
million  dollars  annually,  by  the  export  of  cottonseed  prod- 

i 

ucts,  adding  to  the  golden  stream  constantly  crossing,  the 


THE  GREAT 

48  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

waters  to  move  the  cotton  crop  of  the  South,  thus  aiding 
/4nd  keeping  the  balance  of  trade  between  the  United  States 
/and  Europe  in  favor  of  our  country,  which  last  year  ex- 
/  ceeded  half  a  billion  dollars.  To  these  magnificent  results 
you  farmers  of  the  South  are  contributing  enormously,  in- 
asmuch as  the  value  of  your  cotton  crop  alone  is  equal  to 
the  balance  of  trade  in  favor  of  the  United  States. 

Beginning  with  what  is  known  as  crude  mill  products  we 
nave  crude  oil,  prime  quality,  made  from  prime  seed;  crude 
/  oil,  off  quality,  made  from  off-quality  seed;  cottonseed 
meai,  made  from  prime  seed ;  cottonseed  meal,  made  from 
off-quality  or  damaged  seed;  cottonseed  hulls;  cottonseed 
li  liters. 

You  will  note  the  difference  between  the  prime  and  off- 
quality  in  these  products,  due  to  the  quality  of  the  seed 
from  which  they  are  produced. 

This  crude  oil  when  of  sufficiently  high  quality  is  con- 
verted  into  edible  oils  after  undergoing  refining  processes. 

I 


The  off  oil  is  likewise  refined,  but  is  used  for  other  than 


edible  purposes.    The  cottonseed  meal,  as  you  all  know,  is 
used  for  stock  feed  and  for  mixing  with  fertilizers.  Cotton- 
seed hulls  are  also  used  for  stock  feed.    It  has  been  demon- 
Strated,  too,  that  these  hulls  can  be  converted  into  a  pulp 
or  the  manufacture  of  rough  paper.    The  linters  are  used 
n  the  manufacture  of  mattresses,  quilts,  pillows  and  va- 
rious other  purposes  for  which  short  fibre  may  be  utilized. 
I  also  call  to  your  attention  this  sample  of  commercial 
*   fertilizer  ammoniated  with  cottonseed  meal.      I  have  also 
here  type  samples  of  mattresses,  quilts,  etc.,  manufactured 
/     from  linters.    An  important  use  made  of  linters  is  in  the 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  49 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

manufacture  of  gun  cotton,  a  highly  explosive  substance 
used  for  all  purposes  where  explosives  are  needed. 

Going  back  to  the  uses  for  prime  crude  oil,  I  wish  to  ex- 
plain to  you  that  this  is  refined  into  what  is  known  as  prime 
summer  yellow  oil,  like  this  sample.  In  the  refining  pro-f 
cess  the  refuse  is  known  as  "soap  stock,"  like  this  sample 
and  which  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  both  toilet  and' 
laundry  soaps.  The  prime  summer  yellow  oil  itself,  which ' 
can  only  be  made  from  good  seed,  is  then  converted  into  va- 
rious edible  products,  samples  of  which  I  will  show  you  as 
follows:  Salad  oil,  cooking  oil.  lard  compounds,  and  but-) 
terine  and  oleomargarine,  which,  as  you  will  observe,  are( 
most  excellent  substitutes  for  butter. 

In  the  highest  grades  of  what  are  known  to  the  trade  as 
lard  compounds,  about  'ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  com- 
pound is  pure  cottonseed  oil,  the  balance  is  usually  oleo 
stearine,  or  beef  tallow.  A  new  use  for  the  highest  grade  re/ 
fined  oils  is  in  ice  cream.  I  am  sorry  conditions  prevent  my 
showing  you  a  sample  of  that,  but  it  has  been  successfully 
and  satisfactorily  used  for  this  purpose.  The  soap  stock  isj 
used,  as  previously  explained,  in  the  manufacture  of  toilet* 
and  laundi^y  soap,  such  as  these  samples. 

The  best  grade  of  cottonseed  oil  is  now  used  also  for  me- . 
dicinal  purposes,  thus  giving  to  it  the  highest  possible  in- 
dorsement.    Dr.  George  Brown,  of  Atlanta,  has  manufac- 
tured and  placed  on  the  market  an  emulsion  of  cottonseed  ( 
oil,  like  this  sample,  which  is  used  as  a  substitute  for  cod- 
liver  oil.    He  assured  me  that  it  is  far  superior  to  codliver 
oil  in  the  treatment  of  cases  wherever  that  oil  has  been 
used.    He  states  that  the  majority  of  people  who  need  cod- 


THE  GREAT 

50  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

liver  oil  most  are  unable  to  take  it  because  they  could  not 
digest  it,  besides,  the  taste  and  flavor  are  objectionable, 
which  is  not  the  case  with  cottonseed  oil,  which  is  palat- 
able. He  says  he  has  never  yet  seen  a  patient  whose 
stomach  was  so  delicate  that  he  could  not  thoroughly  digest 
cottonseed  oil. 

In  order  to  give  you  a  further  idea  of  the  quality  of  the 
products  made  from  the  seed,  I  show  you  here  a  sample  of 
high-grade  cottonseed  oil  and  alongside  of  it  a  sample  of 
absolutely  pure  olive  oil,  which  the  world  has  for  genera- 
tions considered  the  best  of  edible  oils.  This  grade  of 
cottonseed  oil  is  equally  as  good  as  any  olive  oil,  only  we 
have  not  idealized  it  as  the  growers  of  olive  oil  have  done. 
Olive  oil,  therefore,  is  preferred  by  some  people  only  be- 
cause of  its  longer  use  and  because  in  certain  countries 
consumers  have  become  more  accustomed  to  it. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  detect  the  difference.  So  gen- 
erally was  cottonseed  oil  accepted  as  olive  oil  that  some 
years  ago  it  was  reported  that  the  olive  growers  of  Califor- 
nia petitioned  Congress,  or  through  their  representative, 
endeavored  to  pass  a  law  taxing  cottonseed  oil  heavily  for 
the  protection  of  the  olive  growers,  and  it  was  stated  that 
one  of  the  reasons  given  for  this  was  that  consumers  were 
becoming  so  accustomed  to  the  taste  and  flavor  of  cotton- 
seed oil  that  in  a  few  years  olive  oil  would  be  considered 
adulterated. 

Recently  the  Olive  Growers'  Association  of  California 
published  a  vicious  attack  on  cottonseed  oil.  Sam  Jones 
used  to  say  that  it  was  the  "hit  dog  that  howled."  The 
animus  of  the  California  publication  shows  that  somebody 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  51 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

has  been  hit  and  hit  hard ;  and  it  also  shows  that  the  manu- 
facturers of  cottonseed  oil  must  expect  these  sort  of  at-_ 
tacks  and  must  hold  up  the  product  to  its  present  high 
standard.  The  farmers  can  greatly  help  in  this  work  by 
more  careful  handling  of  the  seed,  which  insures  to  the  con- 
sumer of  oil  a  perfect  product. 

In  order  that  you  may  appreciate  the  production  of  cot- 
tonseed oil  in  comparison  with  other  edible  oils  with  which 
it  competes,  I  will  state  that  although  the  olive  groves  have 
existed  since  the  time  when  the  "mind  of  man  runneth  not 
to  the  contrary"  while  the  manufacture  of  cottonseed  oil|V 
is  scarcely  a  generation  old  it  now  about  equals  the  pro- 
duction of  olive  oil,  amounting  to  probably  three  million 
barrels  annually.  The  ground-nut,  or,  as  we  say  in  Georgia, 
"goober,"  production  of  oil  averages  about  250,000  barrels  \ 
annually,  and  the  Sesame  yield  about  225,000.  In  Spain 
the  average  yield  of  oil  per  acre  is  about  twenty  gallons. 

While  the  total  olive  crop  of  Europe  is  about  the  same  as  ^ 
the  cottonseed  oil  crop,  the  olive  crop  as  well  as  the  other 
seed  and  nut  crops,  are  about  the  same  amount  every  year, 
showing  very  little  increase.    But  even  without  an  increase( 
in  the  acreage  in  cotton  the  prodiTction  of  cottonseed  oil 
can  be  considerably  increased  by  better  selection  of  plant- 
ing seed  and  better  care  in  the  handling  of  the  seed. 

In   producing   the   cotton   crop   the    Southern    farmer  f 
grows  on  the  same  land  about  half  as  much  oil  as  the  Span-  ( 
ish  olive  grower  and  has,  in  addition,  produced  from  the 
seed  three  other  important  products,  all  having  valuable 
uses,  viz.,  meal,  hulls  and  linters.     The  value  of  the  seed  ' 
and  products  of  cottonseed  per  acre  is  about  equal  to  the 


THE  GREAT 

52  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

,  value  per  acre  of  the  olive  crop.  The  mills  have,  therefore, 
taken  a  by-product  of  cotton  and  with  it  alone  increased  the 
productive  capacity  of  the  cotton  lands  in  the  South  by  as 
much  as  the  total  productive  capacity  of  the  olive  groves. 

It  may  interest  you  to  know  that  during  the  worst  part  of 
the  recent  financial  panic  when  European  exchange  even 
for  cotton  shipments,  could  not  be  negotiated,  that  the 
European  buyers  of  cottonseed  oil  offered  to  send  over 
gold  to  purchase  seed  with  which  to  make  the  oil  for  their 
use.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  higher  estimate  of  the 
value  of  any  product  than  this. 

Negotiations  are  now  pending  between  France  and  the 
United  States  by  which  this  country  abates  a  part  of  its 
duty  on  champagne  in  consideration  of  an  abatement  by 
France  of  its  maximum  duties  on  cottonseed  oil.  This 
shows  the  high  value  placed  on  cottonseed  by  France,  and 
incidentally,  is  interesting  to  Georgians  in  these  prohibi- 
tion da#s. 

^To^urther  develop  the  crude  cottonseed  oil  industry  it  is 
'necessary  for  the  mills  to  have  the  strongest  possible  co- 
operation of  the  farmers  and  producers  of  the  seed.  The 
margin  of  profit  to  the  crude  oil  mill  is  very  small.  This 
can  only  be  increased  as  higher  values  obtain  for  cottonseed 
products,  when  our  own  people,  and  especially  our  farmers, 
purchase  and  use  more  extensively  the  products  of  the 
crude  mill.  If  they  will  do  this  they  will  put  the  crude  oil 
mills  on  a  solid  financial  foundation  and  at  the  same  time 
greatly  benefit  themselves,  not  only  by  enabling  the  mills  to 
pay  higher  prices  for  seed,  but  by  getting  better  products 
than  they  are  now  doing.  This  consumption  has  greatly 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  53 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

increased  within  the  last  few  years,  but  there  is  room  for 
further  increase,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  farmers 
who  produce  the  seed  the  crude  mills  will  be  largely  inde- 
pendent of  speculative  markets  for  oil  which  tend  to  the 
depreciation  of  this  most  valuable  product. 

You  have  been  told  time  and  again  about  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  cotton  crop  and  will  be  told  again,  but  no  mat- 
ter how  often  the  same  old  story  is  told  it  is  as  true  as  the 
first  time  it  was  stated. 

When  five  hundred  pounds  of  wheat  crosses  the  water  it  I 
sends  back  to  America  only  about  ten  dollars  in  gold.    But/ 
whenever  five  hundred  pounds  of  cotton  crosses  the  ocean 
it  sends  back  to  us  about  sixty  dollars  of  European  gold/ 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  when  the  business  men 
and  manufacturers  of  the  country  needed  gold  so  badly  in 
the  decent  panic  they  kept  insisting  that  financial  condi- 
tions Avould  not  improve  until  cotton  moved. 

You  clothe  with  cotton  a  greater  part  of  the  world's  pop- 
ulation than  is  clothed  with  any  other  fibre,  and  with  your 
cottonseed  products  you  are  contributing  largely  to  the 
support  of  the  population. 

The  manufacturers  of  automobiles  have  shown  you  how  \ 
to  make  horseless  carriages  and  I  have  endeavored  to  show 
you  how  to  make  edible  oil  without  olives;  medicinal  oil  j 
without  codfish ;  butter  without  cows ;  ice  cream  without 
cream;  lard  without  hogs;  fertilizers  without  blood;  mat- 
tresses without  hair;  stock  feed  without  corn  or  oats  and 
explosives  without  powder,  and  this  has  all  been  done  by 
producing  as  good  or  better  articles  than  the  originals,  and 
it  has  all  been  accomplished  with  the  little  seed  grown  by 
you  on  the  hillsides  and  in  the  valleys  of  old  Georgia. 


THE  GREAT 

54  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  DAIRY  AND  OIL  MILL  INTERESTS. 

(Address  before  the  Georgia  Dairy  Association,  Griffin, 

Ga.) 

HOW  THE  OIL  MILL  HAS  BENEFITTED  THE  DAIRY  INTERESTS 
AND  CATTLE  RAISING  INDUSTRY — HOW  THESE  COMBINED 
INTERESTS  MAY  BE  FURTHER  PROMOTED  BY  CLOSER  RE- 
LATIONS. 

My  friend,  Professor  Willoughby,  invited  me  to  talk  to 
you  not  longer  than  twenty  minutes  on  the  subject  "The  Re- 
lations of  Livestock  Owners  and  Dairymen  to  Oil  Mills." 
I  could  talk  to  you  twenty  days  on  the  oil  mill  end  of  the 
proposition,  but  if  confined  to  livestock  and  dairying  I  am 
sure  I  could  tell  you  all  I  know  in  twenty  seconds. 

1  belong  to  that  crowd  described  by  Colonel  Starke,  of 
Mississippi,  as  being  "too  poor  to  keep  a  cow  and  too  proud 
to  milk  a  goat."  The  nearest  I  ever  came  to  being  a  stock 
raiser  or  dairyman  was  when  I  used  to  hold  the  calf  off  for 
some  one  else  to  do  the  milking,  and  then  the  calf  didn't 
seem  to  think  that  I  was  doing  much  toward  his  raising. 
But  this  has  been  so  many  years  ago  that  I  have  almost 
forgotten  what  a  cow  looks  like. 

Most,  if  not  all,  of  you  livestock  breeders  and  dairymen 
are  farmers  also.  Perhaps  I  know  just  a  little  more  about 
farming  than  about  raising  livestock.  For  ten  years  I  was 
Secretary  of  the  South  Carolina  Department  of  Agricul- 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


55 


Cartoon,  ''Getting  Together." 


THE  GREAT 

56  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

ture,  during  which  time  i  studied  agriculture  as  closely 
and  as  thoroughly  as  my  clerical  duties  would  permit. 
When  I  graduated  from  that  department  and  went  into  oil 
milling  I  had  learned  enough  about  farming  to  know  how 
many  tax  tags  it  required  for  a  ton  of  guano.  All  that  I 
have  learned  about  farming  since  then  is  that  cottonseed 
meal  ammoniated  fertilizers  are  the  best  for  Georgia  soils 
and  Georgia  crops.  Notwithstanding  my  ignorance  about 
stock  raising  and  farming,  I  hope  in  the  time  allowed  me 
to  show  you  that  our  relationship  is  a  very  close  one  that 
we  have  so  many  interests  in  common  that  we  can  trace  our 
relationship  without  the  aid  of  a  pedigree. 

We  believe  that  the  oil  mills  by  producing  the  best  stock 
feed  ever  made,  dairying  and  stock  raising  in  the  South 
will  be  possible  and  we  hope  profitable.  These  products 
have  placed  the  live  stock  interests  of  the  South  on  a  plane 
with  the  live  stock  interests  of  the  West.  By  using  cotton- 
seed meal  and  hulls  you  have  helped  the  mills.  We  are 
more  or  less  dependent  on  you  and  you  are  partly  depend- 
ent on  us.  When  a  live  stock  raiser  or  a  dairyman  is  a 
farmer  also  it  is  always  to  his  interest  to  exchange  his  seed 
with  the  mills  for  meal  and  hulls.  The  mills  are  always 
anxious  to  do  this  and  by  such  exchanges  both  parties  are 
benefitted.  These  exchanges  can  be  made  on  a  basis  of 
pounds  or  on  the  cash  values  of  seed  and  meal  and  hulls  at 
the  time  of  the  exchange. 

A  pamphlet  recently  published  by  the  National  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  gives  the  result  of  experiments  in  the 
use  of  raw  seed  and  meal  in  fertilizing  land,  which  shows 
that  it  is  a  great  deal  better  to  use  the  meal  than  the  seed 


THE  QREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  57 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

for  this  purpose.  Comparatively  few  seed  are  fed  to  cattle 
and  in  most  cases  this  is  only  when  the  seed  are  too  far 
from  railroads  to  be  hauled.  I  believe  it  is  pretty  well  es- 
tablished that  the  meal  and  hulls  as  a  feed  for  stock  are  far 
superior  to  the  raw  or  cooked  whole  seed. 

I  assume,  of  course,  you  all  know  that  cottonseed  meal 
and  hulls  make  the  best  stock  feed  in  the  world,  but  it  may 
not  be  improper  for  me  to  tell  you  something  about  what 
other  people  think  of  it. 

The  government  special  agent,  Mr.  Ben  ton,  appointed 
from  Georgia  to  travel  through  the  Netherlands,  Denmark 
and  other  European  countries,  reported  that  at  every  point 
visited  he  found  cottonseed  meal  in  high  favor  with  all 
stock  raisers  of  those  countries. 

At  the  famous  Tri folium  dairy  in  Denmark,  15,000  head 
of  milk  cows  are  fed  on  cottonseed  meal.  In  all  parts  of 
the  South  and  throughout  New  England  cottonseed  meal 
is  the  most  popular  of  all  dairy  foods,  and  in  actual  feed- 
ing value  it  stands  at  the  head  of  all  American  feed  stuffs. 

Judge  Hammond,  of  Augusta,  has  demonstrated  that 
when  properly  used  it  is  the  best  feed  for  horses ;  while  Mr. 
Allison,  of  Texas,  has  proven  beyond  question  its  great 
value  for  fattening  pigs. 

Danish  bacon,  famous  all  over  Europe  for  its  delicacy  of 
flavor,  is  said  to  be  mad^  from  hogs  fattened  on  cottonseed 
meal.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  as  a  feed  for  all  animals 
this  product  has  proven  entirely  satisfactory. 

In  the  South  we  are  fortunate  in  having  cottonseed  hulls, 
which  the  other  countries  have  not,  and  which,  when  added 
to  the  meal  in  proper  proportions,  makes  a  complete  ration. 


THE  GREAT 

58  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

I  cannot  impress  upon  you  too  strongly  the  fact  that  the 
/interests  of  the  stock  raisers,  dairymen,  farmers  and  oil 
mills  are  mutual.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  mills  work  largely 
on  a  toll  basis,  just  as  the  corn  mills  do.  They  figure  on 
the  cost  of  seed,  cost  of  working  and  the  value  of  the  prod- 
ucts, leaving  a  margin  for  reasonable  profits.  Sometimes 
they  have  obtained  these  profits  and  sometimes  not.  But 
during  the  operating  season  they  try  to  make  such  a  differ- 
ence between  the  cost  of  the  seed  worked  up  and  the  value 
of  the  finished  product  as  to  give  them  only  a  fair  profit. 
As  the  greater  part  of  the  dairy  products  and  beef  cattle  of 
the  South  are  consumed  at  home  the  two  interests  should 
in  every  possible  way  work  together. 

In  a  recent  conference  with  representatives  of  the  South- 
ern Cotton  Growers'  Association  the  values  of  seed  were 
discussed  with  representatives  of  the  Interstate  Cotton- 
seed Crushers'  Association.  The  quality  of  the  seed  from 
North  Carolina  to  Texas  was  considered  along  with  the 
yields,  cost  of  working,  freight  rates,  quality  of  the  prod- 
ucts and  other  matters  of  the  same  kind,  and  it  was  unani- 
mously decided  that  owing  to  the  varied  conditions  in  the 
different  sections  of  the  State  that  no  definite  value  could 
be  fixed  on  seed  so  far  as  the  oil  mills  are  concerned.  But 
the  representatives  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Growers'  Asso- 
ciation recognizing  the  importance  to  the  farmer  of  in- 
creasing the  value  of  cottonseed  products  decided  that  they 
would  advocate  personally  and  through  their  association 
an  increased  use  of  all  cottonseed  products  by  the  farmers 
themselves,  substituting  entirely  cottonseed  oil  and  com- 
pounds made  from  it  for  hogs'  lard  and  meal  and  hulls  for 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  59 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

wheat  bran,  corn  meal,  hay  and  other  products  hauled  from 
the  West. 

The  total  production  of  seed  in  the  South  on  a  basis  of 
13,000,000  bale  cotton  crop  is  approximately  6,500,000  tons. 
If  3,000,000  tons  are  used  for  all  other  purposes  it  will 
leave  about  3,500,000  tons  for  crushing.  If  the  products 
from  these  seed  were  used  at  home  it  would  increase  the 
dairy  business  and  cattle  raising,  which  would  be  followed 


Six  Horses  and  a  Mule,  Which  Get  a  Daily  Ration  of  Cottonseed 

Meal. 

by  the  establishment  of  packing  houses,  adding  another 
great  industry  to  this  section.  When  all  cottonseed  prod- 
ucts are  used  in  the  South,  as  will  be  done  some  time,  it 
will  increase  the  commercial  value  of  cottonseed  and  con- 
sequently add  largely  to  the  value  of  the  cotton  crop. 

We  are  now  exporting  to  Europe  about  one-third  of  the 
production  of  cottonseed  nieal  and  one-third  of  the  cotton- 
seed oil  produced,  and  we  ought  not  to  export  a  single  J 
pound  of  meal  or  a  single  gallon  of  oil. 


THE  GREAT 

60  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  flourishing  industry  in  the 
United  States  in  which  the  dairymen  and  the  oil  mills  were 
mutually  interested,  but  which  through  national  laws  has 
practically  been  wiped  out  of  existence.  This  was  the  manu- 
facture of  oleomargarine.    For  this  product  you  furnished 
the  milk  and  the  oil  mills  furnished  the  oil.     You  prob- 
ably feel  about  oleomargarine  as  the  South  Carolina  editor 
did  who  said  it  was  a  "horrible  thought  to  him  that  as  good 
butter  could  be  made  out  of  the  fat  of  a  steer  as  from  the 
milk  of  the  most  beautiful  Jersey  in  the  South.7'    That  was 
sentiment  with  him,  but  with  the  oil  mills  and  the  dairymen 
it  is  a  business  proposition.    So  far  as  I  know  there  is  no 
movement  on  foot  to  repeal  the  oleomargarine  laws,  but  it 
may  be  well  for  our  dairymen  to  consider  whether  or  not 
the  repeal  of  these  laws  might  not  be  beneficial  to  them  in- 
stead of  harmful.     There  is  no  question  about  the  purity 
and  wholesomeness  of  oleomargarine  when  properly  manu- 
factured.    It  furnishes  a  good  substitute  for  butter  at  a 
price  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest  people  and  is  good 
enough  for  the  richest.    By  the  use  of  cottonseed  meal  and 
hulls  and  by  such  produce  as  is  raised  on  the  farms  there  is 
no  question  about  the  ability  of  our  dairies  to  produce  large 
quantities  of  milk  at  a  reasonable  cost. 

There  seems  to  be  some  question  about  whether  or  not 
the  manufacture  of  butter  at  our  dairies  is  profitable.  In 
the  manufacture  of  oleomargarine  sixty  per  cent,  of  the 
weight  is  milk,  the  balance  is  cottonseed  oil  and  beef  stear- 
inc.  The  establishment  of  an  oleomargarine  factory  at 
some  central  point  would  give  an  enormous  demand  for 
milk  which  necessarily  would  increase  its  value.  Would  it 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


61 


1 


be  better  for  you  to  sell  milk  and  create  a  large  demand  for 
it  at  better  prices  than  you  are  now  getting,  or  to  manu- 
facture butter? 

Holland  is  the  largest  butter  making  country  in  the\ 
world.  Holland  also  takes  the  largest  amount  of  cotton- [ 
seed  oil  exported  from  America.  That  country  is  also  the 
largest  manufacturer  of  oleomargarine.  As  far  as  I  know 
(here  is  no  antagonism  between  the  butter  makers  of  Hol- 
land and  the  manufacturers  of  oleomargarine ;  they  appar- 
ently work  together  for  their  mutual  interests,  and  the 
dairymen  do  not  object  to  the  oleomargarine  factories 
which  consume  large  quantities  of  milk.  If  that  country 


Colt  Three  Hours  Old;  Dam  Fed  on  Cottonseed  Meal  Regularly. 


^     THE  GREAT 

62  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

can  import  from  America  $4,000,000  worth  of  cottonseed 
oil  annually  and  make  a  profit  on  it,  it  seems  that  we 
should  in  this  country  utilize  that  oil  and  keep  the  profit  at 
home.  It  is  plain  that  one  pound  of  pure  odorless  cotton- 
seed oil  added  to  three  gallons  of  milk  in  the  churn  will 
produce  from  one  pound  to  one  and  one-fourth  pounds  of 
butter  as  pure,  as  sweet  and  as  delicious  as  the  best  Jersey 
butter  ever  made.  But,  under  the  oleomargarine  laws  the 
sale  of  such  product  is  prohibited.  If  oleomargarine  was 
unwholesome  there  would  be  absolutely  no  argument  in  its 
favor  and  its  manufacture  should  be  prohibited,  even  if  it 
was  a  great  benefit  to  the  dairymen  or  to  the  oil  mills  if  it 
was  manufactured.  But  there  is  no  question  about  its 
wholesomeness  and  it  is  certainly  the  best  substitute  for 
butter  ever  discovered. 

A  gentleman  said  to  me  some  time  ago  that  as  the  West- 
ern butter  makers  realized  that  they  can  increase  their  but- 
ter production  by  the  use  of  oil  costing  from  5^  to  6  cents 
per  pound  and  sell  it  for  25  to  30  cents  per  pound  they 
would  be  the  first  to  advocate  a  repeal  of  the  law  which 
through  their  influence  was  enacted  by  Congress  and  which 
practically  destroyed  the  oleomargarine  industry  in  this 
country. 

I  have  already  consumed  more  than  twenty  minutes  of 
the  time  which  I  promised  to  talk  to  you,  and  only  wish 
to  say  in  conclusion  that  I  appreciate  this  opportunity  of 
advising  with  you  and  I  am  mighty  glad  to  be  with  you. 
You  all  look  happy,  rich  and  prosperous  and  I  am  sure  that 
much  of  your  prosperity,  wealth  and  happiness  is  due  to  the 
free  use  you  have  made  of  cottonseed  products. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  63 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  IV. 

GEORGIA  PEOPLE  BUY  COTTON  OIL  IN  PREFERENCE  TO  HOGS' 

LARD, 

THE  SUPERIORITY  OF  COTTON  OIL  OVER  LARD. 

They  were  discussing  in  the  Piedmont  lobby  the  big  corn 
and  hog  crop  of  the  West  and  finally  got  on  the  relative 
value  and  purity  of  vegetable  6ils  and  animal  fats.  One 
Western  man  had  said  a  great  deal  about  the  big  corn  crop 
and  the  thousands  of  fat  hogs  that  it  would  make  and  how 
his  firm  expected  to  supply  the  cotton  growers  of  the  South 
with  lard  this  year.  He  was  rather  sorry  for  the  Georgians 
because  they  did  not  have  more  hogs,  but  glad  on  his  own 
account,  as  the  South  would  give  his  firm  a  market  for  their 
surplus  product. 

A  cotton  oil  man.  sitting  in  the  group,  observed  that  he 
thought  the  South  was  raising  its  own  lard  this  year  in  the 
shape  of  cotton  oil.     The  Westerner  replied:  "They  will 
never  use  it.    There  is  too  much  prejudice  against  it  right 
here  where  you  raise  it."    The  oil  man  answered :  "Preju- 
dice !    Prejudice  against  a  pure  vegetable  product !    Preju- ' 
dice  against  one  of  the  most  delicious  of  nature's  products !  J 
Why,  do  you  know  how  completely  and  delicately  nature/ 
has  provided  for  the  care  of  the  oil  in  the  cotton  seed?    In 
every  seed  are  thousands  of  oil  cells,  each  containing  a  tiny 
sack  holding  an  almost  infinitesimal  globule  of  oil.    These 
little  sacks  are  elastic,  prevent  evaporation  and  make  it  im- 


THE  GREAT 

64  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

possible  for  the  precious  liquid  to  become  contaminated  by 
contact  with  any  other  substance.  All  of  these  little  cells 
are  then  completely  encased  in  the  kernel  of  the  seed,  and 
all  safely  housed  and  covered  tightly  with  a  hard  shell  im- 
pervious to  rain,  hail,  sunshine,  disease  or  insects.  So  care- 
fully  protected  by  nature  is  the  oil  that  it  can  only  be  re- 
i eased  by  heat  and  pressure.  When  ready  for  market  it  is 
pure,  sweet,  wholesome,  almost  snow  white,  and  of  delight- 
ful flavor.  The  mills  are  selling  it  to  consumers,  who  bring 
their  seed  to  the  mills  and  carry  back  refined  oil. 

"If  there  is  anyone  in  Georgia  so  lacking  in  good  judg- 
ment and  good  taste  as  to  prefer  animal  fat  of  any  kind  to 
cotton  oil,  such  a  citizen  must  live  a  long  ways  from  the 
public  road,  and  if  anyone  still  talks  about  prejudice 
against  cotton  oil,  he  is  simply  making  himself  ridiculous. 

"When  Georgia  grows  2,000,000  bales  of  cotton  in  a 
single  year  and  becomes  the  second  largest  cotton  produc- 
ing State  in  the  South,  her  people  would  not  be  showing 
the  sound  judgment  that  has  made  Georgia  the  Empire 
State  of  the  South  if  they  did  not  consume  their  own  prod- 
ucts in  preference  to  those  produced  elsewhere,  particu- 
larly where  they  are  so  far  superior  to  the  imported 
article." 

The  argument  seemed  to  be  exhausted  and  the  discussion 
drifted  on  to  crops  and  politics. — Atlanta  Constitution, 
September  24,  1905. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  65 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  REVIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  COT- 
TON OIL  INDUSTRY. 

NEGLECTED    OPPORTUNITIES — A     SOUTHERN     MONOPOLY — A 

GROWTH  AS  SENSATIONAL  AS  THE  CALIFORNIA  GOLD  DIS- 
COVERY OF  '49 — THE  VALUE  OF  THE  BY-PRODUCTS  TO  THE 
SOUTHERN  CATTLE  RAISER  AND  DALRYMEN. 

"If  the  United  States  had,  tAventy  or  twenty-five  years 
ago,  followed  up  the  admissions  of  European  olive  oil  ex- 
perts, that  they  could  not  detect  one-third  cottonseed  oil 
in  their  best  olive  oil  and  pushed  the  matter  to  its  just  con- 
clusion, viz:  That  cottonseed  oil  was  as  pure  and  whole- 
some— although  in  itself  lacking  the  peculiar  flavor  of  olive  , 
oil — as  the  best  olive  oil,  the  United  States  would  not  to- 
day be  able  to  meet  the  foreign  demand  which  would  have 
been  created  therefor." 

"The  fact  that  Germany,  Denmark  and  the  United  King- 
dom import  over  $12,000,000  worth  of  United  States  cot-  ( 
tonseed  oil  cake  is  evidence  enough  as  to  its  worth,  for  they 
are  the  expert  cattle  feeders  of  the  world.'7 

The  two  paragraphs  quoted  above  are  from  the  Daily 
Consular  and  Trade  Reports  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor,  October  9,  1906,  and  no 
other  evidence  is  needed  to  prove  the  value  of  these  two 
chief  products  of  the  cottonseed  industry  of  the  South,  nor 
is  further  evidence  needed  regarding  the  importance  of  the 


THE  GREAT 

66  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

foreign  trade  in  these  two  products,  except  to  state  the  act- 
ual figures  as  shown  by  the  same  report. 

The  total  value  of  the  oil  exported  for  the  year  ending- 
June  30,  1905,  was  $13,673,400;  lard  substitutes  (com- 
pounded with  cottonseed  oil),  $4,154,200.  The  exports  of 
cottonseed  oil  cake  amounted  in  value  to  f  13,073,400,  and 
of  linters  to  f  1,433,925,  making  the  total  exports  of  cotton- 
seed products,  exclusive  of  the  oil  exported  in  oleomar- 
garine, 132,334,925. 

It  may  be  some  time  before  the  South  monopolizes  cot- 
ton manufacture,  but  natural  conditions,  followed  by  me- 
chanical ingenuity  and  commercial  activity  have  already 
established  a  monopoly  in  the  South  in  the  manufacture  of 
high  grade  cottonseed  products. 

The  cottonseed  industry  of  the  South  is  unique,  because 
it  is  "alone  of  its  kind,"  especially  when  the  diversified  in- 
terests concerned  in  it  are  considered. 

Its  history  is  interesting;  its  development  as  sensational 
as  the  California  gold  discovery  of  '49.  Its  only  set  back 
and  the  greatest  financial  danger  it  has  encountered  thus 
far,  has  been  its  too  rapid  growth,  production  running 
ahead  of  consumption,  and  crushing  capacity  exceeding  the 
supply  of  the  raw  material,  at  prices  that  the  producers 
could  pay  for  seed  on  the  market  value  for  the  oil,  and  this 
danger  might  have  been  averted,  as  has  been  shown,  if  those 
interested  in  it  twenty  years  ago  had  made  the  proper  ef- 
forifat  that  time  to  push  the  sale  and  use  of  the  oil  in  for- 
eign countries. 

So  rapid  was  the  increase  in  the  number  of  crude  mills  in 
a  few  years  that  refiners  did  not  find  markets  for  the  fin- 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


67 


ished  products,  cooking  oils  and  compounds,  as  fast  as  the 
production  of  crude  oil  increased;  consequently,  the  niiljls 
were  forced  to  depend  largely  on  the  limited  number  of 
European  buyers  to  take  their  surplus  refined  oil,  and  these 
buyers  knew  well  how  to  buy  on  congested  markets.  This 


Cargo  of  Cottonseed  Meal  Fertilisers  on  Chattahoochee  River. 

has  resulted  in  some  years  in  serious  loss  to  the  entire  in- 
dustry, refiners  and  manufacturers  of  crude  oil  as  well. 
This  condition  seems  to  have  passed,  at  least  it  has  im- 
proved, and  while  the  profits  have  averaged  less  than  the 
average  profits  of  other  manufacturing  establishments,  par- 
ticularly in  recent  years,  more  stable  conditions  seem  to 
have  been  reached,  and  better,  broader  and  sounder  judg- 
ment displayed  in  the  handling  of  the  business. 

Until  about  six  years  ago  the  producers  of  crude  oil  de- 
pended largely  on  Eastern  and  Western  refiners  for  their 


THE  GREAT 

68  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

markets.  About  half  of  the  oil  was  then,  1900,  exported 
after  being  refined,  out  of  a  total  estimated  production  of 
1,500,000  barrels.  In  1900  a  large  number  of  crude  oil 
mills  were  purchased  by  Southern-  refiners,  and  then  fol- 
lowed tvii  increased  production  of  the  finished  products  and 
an  increased  domestic  and  home  use  of  the  products.  In 
1905  only  about  one-third  of  the  oil  was  exported  against 
one-half  in  1900,  although  the  total  estimated  production 
had  increased  to  about  3,000,000  barrels,  making  the  do- 
mestic consumption  about  2,000,000  barrels  against  900,000 
barrels  in  1900,  thus  doubling  the  home  demand  for  it.  This 
increase*  in  the  home  use  of  oil  gave  a  tremendous  impulse 
to  the  manufacture  of  crude  oil  and  in  the  two  years  fol- 
lowing the  number  of  mills  in  the  South  almost  doubled. 

The  increased  use  of  the  oil  by  Southern  manufacturers 
of  finished  products  strengthened  both  foreign  and  domes- 
tic demands  for  it,  the  development  running  on  much  the 
same  lilies  as  the  result  following  the  increased  manufac- 
ture of  cotton  by  Southern  factories.  It  has  been  further 
helped  by  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country  in  all  lines 
of  manufacture,  the  improvement  in  agricultural  condi- 
tions, and  the  better  buying  ability  of  the  people  generally. 
If  the  mistakes  of  the  past  are  not  repeated,  if  production  is 
allowed  to  run  parallel  with  consumption,  the  demand  for 
all  cottonseed  products  will  soon  enhance  the  values  and 
the  industry  will  enjoy  the  same  degree  of  prosperity  that 
has  come  to  all  other  similar  enterprises. 

The  products  of  this  industry  compete  with  the  olive 
growers  of  Italy,  Spain  and  France,  with  the  producers  of 
copra  of  the  Pacific  islands,  with  the  cocoanut,  peanut  and 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  69 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

sesame  oil  manufacturers  of  Europe,  with  the  packers  of 
the  world,  with  the  butter  makers  of  Europe,  Avith_the 
Western  growers  of  corn  and  hay,  with  the  hog  raisers  or 
the  same  section,  and,  in  a  limited  way,  with  the  European 
growers  of  low  grade  cotton  and  cotton  factory  waste.  They 
also  compete  with  the  manufacturers  of  soap  of  all  kinds, 
wherever  located.  Not  only  do  the  products  of  the  cotton- 
seed mills  and  refineries  compete  in  foreign  markets  with 
the  commodities  mentioned  produced  in  those  sections,  but 
they  also  are  forced  to  meet  the  competition  of  American 
manufacturers  and  producers  of  similar  commodities  in 
foreign  and  domestic  markets.  It  is  not  surprising,  there-| 
fore,  that  the  development  of  this  industry  has  been  re- 
tarded because  it  met  with  so  much  opposition  from  so 
.many  different  and  conflicting  interests. 

The  Interstate  Cottonseed  Crushers'  Association, 
through  its  publicity  bureau,  is  trying  to  correct  the  mis- 
takes and  injury  done  the  industry  twenty-five  years  ago, 
by  failure  to  take  advantage  of  foreign  markets,  as  ex- 
plained in  the  consular  reports  referred  to,  by  more  fully 
advertising  these  products  and  thus  creating  a  greater  de- 
mand abroad  and  at  home,  which  would  already  have  ex- 
isted if  the  proper  course  had  been  followed  by  those  con- 
trolling the  industry  in  its  early  history.  In  this  work  the 
publicity  committee  is  receiving  the  cordial  co-operation 
of  the  Bureau  of  Manufacturers,  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  the  assistance  of  the  trade 
journals  and  the  newspapers  generally  throughout  t 
United  States  and  of  the  members  of  the  association.  It  is 
believed  that  a  better  knowledge  of  the  value  of  these  prod- 


THE  GREAT 

70  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

nets  will  not  only  increase  the  demand,  but  will  result  in 
more  remunerative  prices  to  both  refiners  and  crude  oil 
mills. 

A  recent  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department 

(  I  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  says :  "The  value  of  cottonseed  oil 

las  a  food  product  was  not  known  in  the  early  days  of  its 

manufacture.    In  1881  it  was  discovered  that  cottonseed  oil 

mixed  with  animal  fats  made  an  acceptable  substitute  for 


ird.     From  that  time  the  domestic  demand  greatly  in- 


creased. In  1880  about  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  cottonseed 
oil  manufactured  in  the  United  States  was  consumed  at 
home,  while  in  1905  it  amounted  to  sixty  per  cent." 

It  has  also  been  "discovered"  that  the  oil  in  its  natural 
state  is  a  satisfactory  substitute  for  lard  and  other  animal 
fats.  The  demand  for  it  as  a  cooking  commodity  is  increas- 
ing daily.  Its  purity  and  wholesomeness  is  attested  by  the 
chemists,  and  practical  experience  supports  the  expert  tes- 
timony. 

Kecently  a  great  deal  of  interest  has  been  aroused  on  ac- 
count of  an  address  delivered  by  Professor  Connell,  on  the 
value  of  cottonseed  meal  as  a  human  food  and  competent 
authorities  have  announced  that  this  is  entirely  practicable 
and  that  we  may  expect  a  large  addition  from  this  source 
to  the  food  products  of  America. 

For  one  hundred  and  eighty  years  mills  for  crushing  cot- 
tonseed have  been  operated  in  Europe,  but  the  differences 
in  the  character  of  the  products  of  these  mills  and  those  of 
the  South  are  almost  as  great  as  the  differences  between 
woolen  and  cotton  goods. 

In  the  South  the  seed  are  worked  directly  from  the  fields ; 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  71 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

in  Europe  they  are  transported  from  Egypt  and  America, 
reaching  the  mills  many  months  after  shipment.  The  prod- 
ucts are  necessarily  inferior  to  those  of  Southern  mills. 
The  manufacturing  methods,  too,  are  not  the  same.  In 
China,  for  possibly  two  thousand  years,  oil  has  been  ex- 
pressed from  cottonseed,  and  is  still  produced  by  primitive 


f 


Exterior  View  of  Large  Cotton  Oil  Refinery. 

processes,  consequently  it  also  is  far  inferior  to  the  South- 
ern product. 

The  Southern  industry  is,  therefore,  unique  in  that  it  / 
"stands  alone"  in  its  methods  of  manufacture  and  in  the 
quality  of  its  product.    It  is  just  as  complete  a  monopoly 
of  its  kind  as  the  American  production  of  Sea  Island  cotton. 
The  feeding  and  fertilizing  value  of  the  meal  produced  in  K 
the  Southern  mills  is  just  about  double  that  of  the  same 
commodity  manufactured  in  the  English  mills.    The  world 
looks  to  America,  therefore,  for  its  high  grade  cottonseed 
oil  and  high  grade  cottonseed  meal.    But  with  all  these  ad- 
vantages the  South  does  not  derive  the  full  benefit  from  the 


THE  GREAT 

72  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

business,  because  a  large  part  of  the  total  annual  pro- 
duction of  the  cake  or  meal  goes  to  foreign  markets,  prob- 
ably half  of  the  linters  (short  fibre)  is  also  exported.  The 
meal  and  hulls  are  needed  for  stock  feed,  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  beef  cattle,  milk  cows  and  hogs  in 
the  South.  In  no  other  way  can  packing  houses  be  so  suc- 
cessfully established  and  the  dairy  products  increased  in 
this  section  as  by  the  use  of  cottonseed  meal  and  hulls. 
When  all  of  the  cake  or  meal  and  all  of  the  linters  are  used 
where  produced — and  that  now  seems  probable  in  the  near 
future — the  full  benefit  of  the  industry  will  be  realized  by 
the  people  who  own  it,  and  by  those  who  grow  the  seed. 

The  total  production  of  cake  or  meal  is  about  sufficient 
to  feed  more  than  1,000,000  head  of  beef  and  dairy  cattle 
the  year  round,  while  the  hulls  would  supply  roughage  for 
250,000  cattle  for  one  year.  If  1,000,000  head  of  cattle  were 
fed  on  the  meal  and  hulls  and  the  deficiency  is  roughage 
supplied  by  native  grasses  and  hay,  then  the  hulls  and  meal 
would  supply  1,000,000  cattle  for  the  entire  year.  As  fat- 
tening cattle  are  usually  kept  for  only  about  six  months  on 
food  of  this  sort  before  being  marketed,  the  supply  of  meal 
and  hulls  supplemented  with  native  grasses  and  hay  would 
supply  2,000,000  head  of  beef  cattle  for  that  time.  Such  a 
use  of  these  products  would  create  packing  houses  through- 
out the  South  and  add  another  important  industry  to  this 
section  that  would  be  of  immense  benefit  to  the  whole 
people. 

All  of  the  hulls  are  now  fed  in  the  South  to  beef  and 
dairy  cattle,  but  a  large  part  of  the  meal  is  exported  or 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  commercial  fertilizers.  This 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


73 


partial  loss  to  the  South  of  the  most  valuable  feed  stuff 
produced  in  any  country  shows  a  lack  of  appreciation  jind 
of  enterprise  that  should  not  exist  and  will  not  continue 
many  years,  as  the  value  of  the  meal  for  feeding  purposes 
is  better  known  each  vear. 


Interior  View  of  Large  Cotton  Oil  Refinery. 

The  industry  has  had  to  combat  the  prejudices  of  its  own 
people  and  the  opposition  of  every  competitor  in  every  mar- 
ket of  the  world.  Sometimes  the  national  government  of  its 
own  country,  and  even  the  governments  of  its  own  States 
have  been  arrayed  against  it.  The  manufacturers  of  lard 
first  opposed  its  chief  product  and  were  followed  by  the 
butter  makers  of  the  West,  while  the  French,  German, 


THE  GREAT 

74  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Austrian  and  Italian  governments  tried  to  prohibit  by  high 
tariffs,  the  sale  ol!  the  oil  in  their  own  countries,  but  seem 
to  have  succeeded  only  in  increasing  its  use.  In  spite  of 
prejudice,  opposition  and  imposition  at  home  and  abroad, 
the  high  merits  of  cottonseed  oil  carried  it  through  all  these 
difficulties,  and  to-day  the  demand  for  it  is  better  than  at 
any  time  in  its  history;  while  the  use  of  the  meal  and  hulls 
has  about  doubled  in  six  years. 

So  the  industry  seems  to  have  overcome  all  opposition 
triumphantly  and  has  worthily  won  the  world's  reognition 
as  one  of  the  great  manufacturing  interests  of  the  country, 
and  wears  its  honors  becomingly. 

In  the  further  development  of  the  industry  the  trend  is 
southward  where  the  cotton  grows.  Here  the  crude  oil  is 
produced,  here  it  can  be  refined  while  it  is  sweet  and  pure, 
fresh  from  the  fields  and  the  seed.  With  the  establishment 
of  commercial  exchanges  in  the  leading  Southern  cities  and 
the  coming  of  immigrant  ships  direct  to  Southern  ports, 
the  trade  with  Europe  will  naturally  come  this  way  and 
this  will  lead  foreign  dealers  and  brokers  to  look  to  South- 
ern producers  of  finished  products  for  their  supplies. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  75 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ENGLISH  AND  AMERICAN  COTTONSEED  MILLS. 

COTTONSEED  MEAL  IN  DENMARK  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES— 
THE  HIGH  QUALITY  OF  AMERICAN  COTTONSEED  OIL — THE 
VALUE  OF  VARIOUS  AM.ERICAN  FEED  STUFFS,  INCLUDING 
COTTONSEED  MEAL  AND  HULLS. 

In  England  where  cottonseed  mills  have  been  in  operation  / 
for  one  hundred  and  eighty  years,  they  are  known  as  cake 
mills  because  the  cake  is  largely  used  for  cattle  feed,  and  is 
highly  regarded  by  feeders  for  this  purpose,  large  quan- 
tities being  imported  in  addition  to  that  produced  at  home, 
while  in  the  South  they  are  known  as  oil  mills,  because  the 
oil  lias  been  regarded  as  the  most  valuable  product.  The 
English  cake,  in  feeding  value,  is  worth  only  about  sixty  , 
per  cent,  of  the  American  cake.  The  oil  is  also  inferior  to 
the  American  product,  because  the  seed  are  crushed  whole, 
all  of  the  hulls  going  into  the  cake  or  meal,  and  the  seed 
are  brought  from  Egypt  or  America,  consequently  they  are 
never  sAveet  and  fresh  like  the  seed  worked  straight  from 
the  cotton  fields  by  the  American  mills. 

Although  the  English  products  are  inferior  to  those  pro- 
duced in  the  South,  they  sell  for  much  higher  prices  be- 
cause their  value  is  better  understood  and  appreciated  by 
the  consumers. 

Last  year  the  sunflower  crop  of  Eussia  was  almost  a 
failure.  When  this  was  realized  the  stock  feeders  in  Den- 


THE  GREAT 

76  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

mark,  where  large  quantities  of  sunflower  cake  is  used,  en- 
tered the  American  markets  for  cottonseed  cake,  which  they 
had  been  using  in  limited  quantities  previously.  The  Dan- 
ish buyers  were  followed  shortly  by  the  German  and  Eng- 
lish feeders,  which  caused  a  sharp  advance  in  price, 
amounting  to  something  over  |5  per  ton.  Cottonseed  meal 
landed  in  Denmark,  including  freight,  insurance,  brokers 
and  jobbers7  commissions  and  profits,  probably  cost  the 
feeders  $35  per  ton,  while  the  highest  price  it  reached  in  the 
South  in  a  retail  way  was  $28  per  ton,  and  only  a  small 
quantity  sold  at  over  $25  per  ton.  This  export  demand 
greatly  assisted  the  mills  in  realizing  a  better  price  for  cot- 
tonseed meal  than  had  prevailed  in  many  years.  Indirectly 
it  was  a  great  benefit  to  the  growers  of  seed,  because  it  en- 
abled the  mills  to  pay  better  prices  for  seed,  but  even  at  the 
price  named,  the  meal  sold  at  only  about  seventy  per  cent, 
of  its  actual  feeding  value  in  comparison  with  other  feed 
stuffs.  A  product  so  valuable  for  feeding  purposes  should 
never  be  used  any  other  way.  If  all  of  the  cottonseed  meal 
produced  in  the  South  was  fed  to  cattle,  it  would  result  in 
making  this  section  a  cattle  raising  country,  and  would  cre- 
ate a  packing  industry  equal  to  that  of  the  West.  This  has 
been  demonstrated  by  an  enterprising  citizen  of  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  who  started  a  few  years  ago  feeding  cattle  in  a  limited 
way  on  cottonseed  hulls  and  meal.  Meeting  with  much  suc- 
cess he  established  an  extensive  packing  house,  and  now 
supplies  a  large  part  of  the  meat  products  consumed  in  this 
section.  While  cottonseed  meal  is  the  best  commercial  fer- 
tilizer ever  produced,  it  is  too  valuable  as  a  feed  staff  to  be 
used  for  other  purposes. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


77 


The  oil  is  the  most  valuable  of  all  of  the  products  of  the 
American  mills.  Its  purity  and  wholesoineness  recommend 
it  for  cooking  purposes  or  for  salads.  It  is  more  econom- 
ical than  any  animal  fat,  and,  on  account  of  its  purity,  is 
necessarily  healthful.  It  is  a  vegetable  product  produced 
from  a  seed  that  is  protected  by  nature  from  imperfections 


Interior  Vieiv  of  Cotton  Oil  Hogless  Lard  Plant. 

of  any  kind,  and  is  made  entirely  by  machinery,  while  the 
seed  are  still  fresh,  sound  and  sweet,  and  is  refined  by  the 
most  approved  methods.  The  United  States  Board  of  Of- 
ficial Chemists  at  Washington  has  classed  it  ivith  olive  oil 
without  'discrimination.  The  high-grade  deodorized  cook- 
ing oil,  manufactured  from  fresh,  sweet  cottonseed,  is  odor- 


THE  GREAT 

78  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

less,  tasteless  and  practically  colorless,  and  is  produced 
without  the  aid  or  use  of  any  injurious  chemicals.  One 
pound  of  oil.  of  this  kind  is  equal  to  one  and  one-third 
pound  of  hog's  lard  for  cooking  purposes. 

Comparative  statement  of  values  of  the  various  feeds  ex- 
pressed in  calories : — 


Feed 
value,  calo- 
Carbohy-            ries  per 

Protein. 

Fiber. 

drates. 

Fat. 

pound. 

Cottonseed  meal.  .  . 

38.6 

6.0 

34.4 

8.0 

180*i 

Feed  meal  

25.0 

20.0 

36.0 

6.0 

1760 

Brewers'  grain  .... 

19.9 

11.0 

51.7 

5.0 

1759 

Corn    

10.5 

2.1 

69.6 

5.4 

1756 

Cow  peas  

16.6 

20.1 

42.2 

2.2 

1746 

Oats  

11.8 

9.5 

59.7 

5.0 

1717 

Linseed  meal  

32.2 

9.2 

38.4 

3.0 

1635 

Wheat  straw 

3.4 

38.1 

43.4 

1.3 

1734 

Oat  straw  

4.0 

37.0 

42.4 

2.3 

1648 

Red  top  hav  

7.9 

28.6 

47.5 

1.9 

1612 

Cottonseed  hulls  .  .  . 

2.5 

46.0 

36.0 

1.0 

1644 

Timothv  hav  

5.9 

29.0 

45.0 

2.5 

1591 

Red  clover  

12.3 

24.8 

38.1 

3.3 

1537 

Corn  fodder.  . 

4.5 

14.3 

34.7 

1.6 

1062 

THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  79 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

How  TO  INCREASE  THE  VALUE  OF  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS. 

('Address  before  the  Inter-State  Cottonseed  Crushers'  As- 
sociation annual  meeting  at  New  Orleans,  La., 
May  16,  1905.) 

SOME  RESULTS  ACCOMPLISHED  BY  PUBLICITY. 

A  gentleman  of  long  experience  in  the  oil  mill  business 
said  to  me  recently,  that  whenever  the  mills  have  an  unfav- 
orable season  they  go  around  looking  for  a  Moses,  but  at 
the  same  time  they  are  always  ready  to  make  suggestions 
for  the  consideration  of  the  Moses  in  case  he  should  be 
found. 

In  this  spirit  several  interesting  suggestions  were  made 
during  the  recent  crushing  season,  looking  to  improving 
conditions. 

One  suggestion  is  that  the  mills  shall  establish  co-opera- 
tive refineries  and  refine  and  store  oil  until  the  market  is 
satisfactory  to  the  producer,  and  another  plan  proposed  is 
that  the  crude  mills  shall  stop  crushing  seed,  and  hold  the 
oil  on  hand  until  the  production  only  equals  the  demand. 

Both  of  these  suggestions  seem  to  have  been  based  on  the 
idea  of  over  production.  The  remedy  offered  for  this  con- 
dition is  that  less  oil  should  be  produced. 

This  idea  seems  defective,  first  because  oil  was  the  only 
product  considered,  and  second  because  storing  a  product, 


THE  GREAT 

SO  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

waiting  for  a  demand  might  result  in  serious  loss,  while  the 
closing  down  of  the  crude  mills  without  making  proper  ef- 
fort to  better  these  conditions  otherwise,  might  impair  the 
value  of  the  investment. 

Entertaining  the  hope  that  a  Moses  will  appear,  if 
needed,  I  submit  the  suggestion  that  it  is  better  to  increase 
consumption  than  to  curtail  production,  and  to  justify  this 
plan  the  home  demand  for  our  product  must  be  increased. 
,  Our  industry  is  closer  than  any  other  to  the  farmer  who 
\  sells  us  his  seed.  In  a  measure,  we  work  on  toll  for  him 
jusi  as  the  corn  mill  does.  He  is  not  now  our  largest  cus- 
tomer, but  he  should  be.  The  farmers  of  the  South  need  all 
of  our  products  and  we  need  their  surplus  seed.  Whenever 
we  can  pay  good  prices  for  seed,  we  realize  proportionate 
prices  for  our  by-products.  An  unfavorable  feature  of  the 
business  is  that  we  do  not  sell  enough  of  these  products  to 
the  parties  wrho  sell  us  their  seed.  They  are  our  best  cus- 
tomers for  what  they  buy,  and  we  should  show  them  it  is 
to  their  interest  to  buy  more  largely. 

Twelve  years  ago  at  Atlanta  we  sold  our  meal  to  fertilizer 
companies  or  exported  it.  At  the  same  time  we  used  hulls 
for  fuel.  At  this  time  about  three-fourths  of  our  meal  is 
sold  to  feeders  and  dairymen,  and  we  are  unable  to  supply 
the  demand  for  hulls  from  local  production.  The  demand 
/  has  been  created  by  hard  work  among  the  farmers  and 
dairymen.  If  similar  efforts  were  made  in  other  parts  of 
Georgia,  and  the  South,  Ave  should  have  very  little  surplus 
meal  and  hulls,  and  if  any  cake  or  meal  was  exported,  it 
would  bring  satisfactory  prices. 

Our  agricultural  experiment  stations  should  be  induced 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  81 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

to  take  greater  interest  in  oil  mill  products.  Besides  mak- 
ing practical  experiments,  and  advertising  results,  thay 
should  employ  lecturers  to  address  the  farmers'  institutes 
on  the  value  and  use  of  meal  and  hulls,  and  thus  keep  them 
constantly  before  the  people.  If  the  mills  would  follow  up 
this  work  with  exchanges  of  meal  and  hulls  for  seed,  they 
would  greatly  enlarge  their  home  market. 

Marketing  oil  is  not  so  easy  a  proposition  as  marketing 
the  by-products,  but  the  home  use  of  it  can  be  increased. 

Our  friend,  Mr.  Jo  Allison,  and  our  secretary,,Mr.  Kobt. 
Gibson,  have  shown  that  a  pound  of  high  grade  cooking  oil, 
added  to  three  gallons  of  milk  in  the  churn,  will  add 


than  one  pound  of  fine  butter  to  the  yield.  This  field  is  un- 
limited. Mr.  Allison  says  that  one  million  gallons  of  milk 
are  churned  every  day  in  Texas.  If  to  every  three  gallons 
of  milk,  one  pound  of  oil  was  added,  we  would  have  a  mar- 
ket in  Texas  alone  for  our  surplus  oil. 

At  one  refinery  in  Mississippi  about  1,000  barrels  of  oil 
are  sold  annually  to  local  consumers.  If  each  of  the  crude 
mills  in  the  South  sold  one-half  as  much,  they  would  take 
from  the  market  the  biggest  surplus  the  trade  has  ever 
known.  In  Georgia  we  have  recently  established  a  retail 
trade  for  the  cooking  oil  at  many  of  the  crude  mills,  and 
although  this  has  been  in  operation  only  a  few  weeks,  the 
result  is  most  encouraging. 

While  much  of  what  is  here  outlined  may  be  accom- 
plished by  individual  effort,  it  can  be  greatly  expedited  by 
proper  organization.    Ever}^  state  in  the  South  should  have 
State  Crushers'  Associations.    These  organizations  should  j 
co-operate  with  the  manufacturers  of  oleomargarine,  who 


THE  GREAT 

82  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

it  is  understood  will  work  for  a  repeal  of  the  oleomargarine 
law.  These  associations  should  assist  in  every  effort  to  pro- 
mote friendly  foreign  relations  in  our  interest,  and  prevent 
unfriendly  domestic  legislation,  and  should  devise  means 
tor  the  proper  advertising  of  our  products  among  our  own 
people. 

State  associations  are  necessary  to  make  more  effective 
the  rules  governing  the  sales  of  products  adopted  from  time 
to  time  by  the  Inter- State  Crushers'  Association  and  by  the 
commercial  organizations  interested  in  our  trade.  Many 
of  the  disagreements  growing  out  of  transactions  bet  ween 
the  mills  are  due  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  terms  of  the 
trade  and  the  rules  which  were  made. 

Properly  managed,  the  great  industry  is  of  immense  ben- 
efit to  the  South.  It  should  be  encouraged  in  every  legiti- 
mate way. 

Let  us  get  together  and  forget  the  little  troubles  we  have 
and  take  a  bigger  and  broader  view  of  the  whole  situation, 
and  turning  our  eyes  to  the  future,  work  on  the  principle 
of  the  "Georgia  Gospel"  as  expounded  by  that  sunny 
hearted  Georgia  poet — Frank  Stanton  :— 

"No  use  in  grievin7 

'Bout  the  milk  you  spill ; 
Keep  on  believin' 

That  the  cow'll  stand  still." 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  83 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOME  INTERESTING  FACTS  ABOUT  COTTONSEED  OIL. 

HOW  IT  MASQUERADED  UNDER  DIFFERENT  NAMES  IN  DIFFERENT 
COUNTRIES — HOW  IT  WAS  MIXED  AND  BLENDED  WITH 
OTHER  AND  INFERIOR  PRODUCTS — HOW  IT  WAS  FINALLY 
PUT  ON  THE  MARKET  UNDER  ITS  OWN  NAME  AND  TRI- 
UMPHANTLY WON  ON  ITS  HIGH  MERITS. 

The  manufacture  of  cottonseed  oil  is  a  peculiar  Industry 
and  while  all  other  manufacturers  have  enjoyed  some  kind 
of  protection  from  the  government,  this  has  lived  in  spite 
of  governmental  opposition  and  without  assistance  from 
the  government.  For  many  years  during  the  growth  of  this 
infant  industry  it  was  satisfied  to  live  under  many  nom  de 
plumes.  As  the  sweet  New  England  songster,  the  bobolink, 
delighted  the  musical  artists  of  New  England  and  after- 
wards pleased  the  palates  of  the  epicures  of  Charleston,  as 
the  rice  bird,  so  cotton  oil  was  willing  to  become  olive 
oil  in  Spain,  peanut  oil  in  France,  cocoanut  oil  in  the  Phil- 
ippines, sesame  oil  in  Africa,  lard  oil  in  Chicago,  corn  oil  i 
in  Cincinnati,  hog  lard  oil  all  over  the  world,  butter  in  the  / 
Jersey  Islands,  and  still  remain  the  cottonseed  oil  of  the 
South. 

Finally  its  aristocratic  brethren,  the  olive  growers  of 
Europe,  appealed  to  their  respective  governments  for  pro- 
tection against  this  invader,  which  had  become  more  popu- 
lar than  themselves  in  their  own  countries.  They  succeeded 
in  having  almost  prohibitive  duties  levied  upon  it  when  ex- 


THE  GREAT 

84  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

ported.  This  was  pretty  hard,  but  when  the  government  of 
the  United  States  prohibited  the  manufacture  of  oleomar- 
arine,  cotton  oil  found  itself  without  friends  in  any  of  the 
governments  of  the  world  and  opposed  by  its  own  govern- 
ment. It  concluded  that  it  was  time  to  throw  off  all  dis- 
guises and  stand  in  its  own  right  and  on  its  OAVU  merits  be- 
fore the  world.  It  was  then  converted  into  cottolene  and 
advertised  as  a  cotton  oil  product  and  under  this  name  its 
popularity  increased.  In  Georgia,  at  Savannah,  it  enters 
into  the  composition  of  Snowdrift,  one  of  the  purest  and 
best  of  compounds,  and  into  Flakewhite  at  Macon,  and  it 
has  proven  to  all  people  that  these  products  are  Avholesome 
and  free  from  diseases  common  among  swine.  It  now 
spurns  any  connection  with  hog  fat.  It  no  longer  mas- 
querades under  the  name  of  any  foreign  oil.  In  Savannah 
it  is  Wesson  Snowdrift  oil,  good  for  cooking  and  salads, 
and  competes  with  the  best  olive  oil  and  butter. 

So  popular  has  cottonseed  oil  become  for  edible  and  cul- 
inary purposes  that  the  handful  of  olive  growers  in  Cali- 
fornia once  declared  that  the  palates  of  the  people  had 
become  so  accustomed  to  the  flavor  of  cotton  oil,  that  they 
had  come  to  regard  the  pure  olive  oil  as  adulterated. 

Some  of  our  own  Southern  State  legislatures  passed 
laws  against  the  use  of  cotton  oil  in  the  manufacture  of 
butter  substitutes,  for  the  protection  of  the  few  dairymen 
who  make  Jersey  butter.  Since  the  manufacture  of  oleo- 
margarine was  practically  prohibited  by  national  legisla- 
tion, many  of  the  best  hotels  of  the  country  have  been 
flooded  with  a  renovated  rancid  butter,  disgusting  to  the 
palate  and  not  wholesome  to  the  stomach. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  IX. 
A  GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  COTTON  OIL  INDUSTRY. 

(Annual  address  before  the  Inter-State  Cottonseed  Crush- 
ers' Association,  Louisville,  Ky.,  May  19, 1908.) 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  INTER-STATE  COTTONSEED  CRUSHERS'  ASSO- 
CIATION FOR  THE  YEAR  1908 — THE  CONDITIONS  AFFECTING 
THE  INDUSTRY — ITS  IMMENSE  POSSIBILITIES — THE  CO-OP- 
ERATION OF  THE  NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  PROMOTING 
ITS  INTERESTS — THE  FOREIGN  TRADE — OLEOMARGARINE — • 
GRADING  COTTONSEED-  PUBLICITY  BUREAU — EXHIBITS  OF 
COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS. 

When  you  met  at  Jamestown  a  year  ago  you  had  just 
closed  a  fairly  successful  operating  season.  You  were  able 
to  submit  balance  sheets  to  your  stockholders  showing  reas- 
onable profits  on  their  investments.  If  the  result  this  year 
is  not  as  satisfactory  as  last  it  is  due  to  causes  largely  be- 
yond your  control.  You  can  at  least  congratulate  your- 
selves upon  having  ended  a  phenomenal  season  without  se- 
rious loss,  following  financial  conditions  that  closed  banks, 
forced  railroads  into  receiverships,  and  overwhelmed  many 
other  industries,  while  no  actual  failure  of  cotton  oil  mills 
has  been  reported  and  the  future  of  your  business  is  exceed- 
ingly promising. 

The  acreage  in  cotton  this  year,  with  good  crop  condi- 
tions, insures  you  the  raw  material  needed,  and  the  in- 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 

creased  demand  for  your  products  is  the  best  guarantee  of 
future  sales. 

THE  FUTURE  DEMAND  FOR  COTTON  OIL. 

There  is  little  probability  of  an  increased  production  of 
olive  or  other  vegetable  oils  in  Europe.  The  increasing- 
population  of  the  world  provides  for  any  probable  increase 
in  the  production  of  cotton  oil,  and  the  Eastern  markets 
opened  to  this  product  last  year  are  among  consumers  who 
do  not  use  animal  fats.  As  the  seasons  go  by  the  merits  of 
this  oil  become  better  known,  and  it  must  necessarily  sup- 
ply the  shortage  in  the  world's  requirements. 

If  you  think  that  I  am  too  sanguine  regarding  the  future 
demand  for  your  oil  I  refer  you  to  the  flood  of  reports 
coming  from  United  States  consuls  regarding  conditions 
in  foreign  markets.  I  quote  only  a  few : 

Consul  James  E.  Dunning,  Milan,  Italy. — "Short  crops 
are  bound  to  occur  in  Italy  every  few  years,  while  the  pros- 
pects for  the  general  normal  trade  in  cottonseed  oil  is  prom- 
ising in  the  extreme.  The  prospect  for  future  development 
of  the  trade  is  excellent.  Cotton  oil  has  become  nearly 
indispensable  to  the  Italian  market." 

Consul  Paul  Nash,  Venice,  Italy. — "Even  under  the  best 
conditions  Italy  cannot  produce  edible  oil  enough  for  home 
consumption,  plus  the  demand  for  olive  oil  abroad." 

Consul-General  Frank  11.  Mason,  Paris,  France. — "The 
use  of  cottonseed  oil  for  cooking  purposes  is  increasing 
rapidly  not  only  in  France,  but  in  Italy  and  other  Euro- 
pean countries." 

Consul-General     Skinner,     Marseilles,     France. — "The 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 

worldwide  need  of  oils  arid  greases  goes  on  increasing, 
while  the  raw  material  areas  are  known,  limited  and  sub- 
ject to  no  systematic  effort  toward  eulargement." 

Consul-General  Ekehl,  Germany. — "American  cottonseed 
oil  is  used  extensively  here." 

Consul  William  Harrison,  Bradley,  England. — "There  i>s 
a  large  and  increasing  use  of  cottonseed  oil  here." 

Consul-General  Loren  Listoe,  Netherlands. — "Cotton- 
seed oil  is  imported  and  used  in  the  Netherlands  in  great 
quantities." 

Consul  Frank  B.  Hill,  Holland. — "Imports  (of  cotton 
oil)  are  increasing  every  year  and  are  almost  exclusively 
from  the  United  States." 

Consul  George  M.  Ilotschick,  Austria. — "Cottonseed  oil 
—hundreds  of  thousands  of  barrels  of  which  are  consumed 
—cannot  be  produced  either  in  Austria  or  in  all  Europe 
and  is  not  in  any  way  to  be  replaced." 

Consul  Felix  S.  S.  Johnson,  Switzerland. — "Each  year 
shows  a  marked  increase  in  cottonseed  oil  importations." 

Consul  Jesse  B.  Jackson,  Syria. — "The  importation  of 
the  products  of  cottonseed  oil  is  increasing  very  rapidly." 

Consul-General  G.  E.  Anderson,  Rio  de  Janeiro. — "As 
between  olive  oil  and  cottonseed  oil,  conditions  generally, 
including  tariff  rates,  are  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  cotton- 
seed product." 

No  further  evidence  is  needed  to  prove  that  the  high  | 
quality  of  your  oil  and  the  demand  for  it  have  been  firmly 
established  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  and  especially  in 
the  olive-growing  regions.  The  puny  attempts  of  a  few  olive< 
Growers  in  California  to  discredit  cottonseed  oil  may  be 


THE  GREAT 

88  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

compared  with  a  Florida  zephyr  trying  to  stop  a  Texas 
tornado. 

Not  only  has  cottonseed  oil  proven  its  superior  quality, 
taking  its  place  alongside  the  best  grades  of  olive  oil,  but 
your  chief  by-product,  cottonseed  meal,  is  finding  new  uses 
in  foreign  and  domestic  markets,  which  means  a  demand 
at  fair  prices  for  any  production  that  may  reasonably  be 
expected. 

Conservatism  in  your  business  and  persistent  advertising 
of  your  products  will  secure  you  fair,  just  and  reasonable 
returns  on  your  labor  and  investment  for  the  coming 
season. 

THE  OBJECT  OP  THE  ASSOCIATION. 

In  some  sections  of  the  South  conditions  other  than 
financial  have  made  the  business  unsatisfactory,  but  an 
improvement  may  be  expected  even  in  this  respect  in  the 
near  future.  There  are  ho  irreconcilable  differences  be- 
tween the  refining  and  the  crude  interests ;  none  should  be 
allowed  to  exist  and  none  possible  do  exist  between  those 
who  are  members  of  this  association. 

In  discussing  the  sentiments  and  purposes  of  the  United 
States  toward  the  South  American  republics  Secretary 
Koot  used  words  that  will  define  the  objects  and  purposes 
of  this  association.  He  said:  "We  desire  to  increase  our 
prosperity ;  to  extend  our  trade ;  to  grow  in  wealth,  in  wis- 
dom and  in  spirit;  but  our  conception  of  the  true  way  to 
accomplish  this  is  not  to  pull  down  others  that  we  may 
profit  by  their  ruin,  but  to  help  all  friends  to  a  common 
prosperity  that  we  may  become  greater  and  stronger  to- 
gether." 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  89 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Membership  in  the  association  will,  as  Secretary  Root 
again  says  regarding  trade,  -establish  kindly  and  agreenWe 
personal  relations  which  are  so  potent  in  leading  to  busi- 
ness relations." 

Those  interests  you  represent  here,  whether  your  own 
or  others,  are  best  served  by  contributing  to  the  success  of 
this  association  that  has  already  accomplished  so  much 
good  for  the  industry  and,  by  reason  of  what  it  has  already 
accomplished,  is  in  position  to  increase  these  benefits  many 
times  over  in  the  future. 

You  have  left  your  homes  and  come  to  this  meeting  for 
a  serious  business  purpose ;  you  are  earnest  business  men ; 
you  have  come  to  serve  the  highest  and  best  interests  of  the 
industry  you  represent,  and  you  Avill  do  this  with  fidelity 
and  loyalty.  The  pleasure  and  entertainment  that  our 
Louisville  friends  have  prepared  for  us  will  be  thoroughly 
enjoyed  and  appreciated  and  A\i  11  contribute,  in  a  large 
measure,  to  the  success  of  the  work  you  have  come  to  do. 
Like  the  dressing  to  the  salad,  it  will  make  better  the 
serious  part  of  the  program. 

COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS  IN  FOREIGN  MARKETS. 

As  a  rule  the  values  of  all  commodities  are  governed  by  i 
the  markets  where  the  surplus  is  sold.     Eecognizing  this 
fact,  your  officers  have  endeavored  to  maintain  those  for- 
eign markets  already  secured  for  your  products,  and  to  in-/ 
crease  the  demand  in  those  countries  where  about  one-third ' 
of  your  products  are  now  sold,  and  to  create  new  ones,  real- 
izing that  conditions  existing  there  reflect  and  react  upon 
your  home  markets. 

Two  years  ago,  under  President  Bailey's  administration, 


THE  GREAT 

90  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

the  State  Department  at  Washington,  co-operating  with 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  was  induced  to 
call  for  reports  from  the  United  State  consuls  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  showing  stocks  of  cottonseed  products  and 
stocks  of  oil-bearing  seeds  and  commodities  competing 
with  cottonseed  products  in  the  various  countries  to  which 
these  consuls  were  accredited.  In  addition  to  this  the  con- 
suls were  requested  to  report  on  the  consumption  and  uses 
of  the  products  and  the  possibility  of  further  increasing 
the  sales. 

These  reports  have  been  made,  and  published,  daily,  as 
received  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and 
were  also  published  as  a  separate  pamphlet  last  year  and 
distributed  at  Jamestown.  A  second  edition,  including 
the  first  pamphlet  and  all  consular  reports  received  since 
its  publication,  was  issued  this  year  by  the  department 
under  special  authority  and  by  special  appropriation  of 
Congress.  These  publications  have  been  interesting  and 
exceedingly  valuable  to  every  one  engaged  in  the  industry. 
They  have  not  only  shown  what  has  been  done,  and  what  is 
being  done,  but  what  may  be  done  to  further  increase  our 
trade,  and  how  to  increase  it.  These  reports  have  been 
mailed  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  to  every 
member  of  our  association,  and  they  have  contained  abun- 
dant practical  information.  The  manufacturers  individ- 
ually, and  the  association  collectively,  should  take  advan- 
tage of  the  opportunities  thus  presented. 

In  addition  to  the  consular  reports  called  for,  Hon.  Oscar 
S.  Straus,  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  last  year  appointed  Mr.  J.  L.  Benton  as  a  special 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  91 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

foreign  agent  to  travel,  in  foreign  countries  and  investigate 
conditions  affecting  our  industry  and  to  exploit  our  prod- 
ucts. Mr.  Benton  discharged  these  duties  with  admirable 
fidelity  and  unusual  ability,  but  owing  to  ill  health  was 
compelled  to  resign  the  position.  Subsequently,  on  the 
nomination  of  our  association  held  in  New  Orleans  in  Sep- 
tember, 1907,  Mr.  A.  G.  Perkins  was  appointed  to  succeed 
Mr.  Benton,  and  he  has  already  submitted  some  very  val- 
uable reports,  and  as  he  acquires  experience  and  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  in  the  countries  visited  he  will 
be  of  even  greater  service  to  the  industry. 

The  members  of  this  association  should  co-operate  fully 
with  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  and  the 
Bureau  of  Manufactures  and  sustain  Mr.  Perkins  in  his 
work  by  every  means  in  their  power,  but  especially  should 
they  encourage  him  by  letters  of  commendation  and  by 
suggestions  that  will  help  him  to  produce  practical  and 
satisfactory  results. 

The  association  is  greatly  indebted  to  Hon.  Oscar  S. 
Straus,  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  and  to  Hon.  John  M.  Carson,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Manufactures  in  that  department,  for  the  great  interest 
they  have  shown  in  our  industry  and  for  the  practical 
services  they  have  rendered,  and  suitable  resolutions  to 
that  effect  should  be  adopted  at  this  meeting. 

With  the  work  now  being  done  to  advance  and  maintain! 
ovir  foreign  trade  by  the  government,  by  its  consuls  an< 
special  agents,  and  with  the  splendid  advertising  by  oui 
publicity  bureau  and  by  the  State  bureaus,  we  can  expeci 


THE  GREAT 

92  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

within  a  reasonable  time  a  considerably  increased  demand 
for  all  of  onr  products. 

Hon.  John  M.  Carson,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures, 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  has  furnished  me 
statements  of  the  total  exports  of  cottonseed  products  for 
the  jears  ending  March  1907  and  1908,  as  follows: 
Domestic  Exports  of  Cottonseed  Products  from  the  United 
States  During  the  Twelve  Months  Ending  March 
31,  1907  and  IMS,  Respectively. 

EXPORTS  OP  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS,  YEARS  1907-1908. 


-1907 


Pounds.  Value. 

Cottonseed  oil,  gallons 41,350,396  $15,724,580 

Cottonseed  oil  cake  and  meal .  .  .1,196,319,442  15,403,858 

Lard  compounds  and  substitutes      78,533,955  5,703,672 


Total 136,832,110 

r-  -1908—  -^ 

Pounds.  Value. 

Cottonseed  oil,  gallons 39,742,710     $17,619,241 

Cottonseed  oil  cake  and  meal . . .  1,060,291,437       13,367,748 
Lai-d  compounds  and  substitutes      75,228,754         6,147,713 


Totals   $37,134,702 

This  shows  total  value  of  exports  last  year  $36,832,110, 
against  $37,134,702  this  year,  exclusive  of  linters. 

Cousul-General  Hugh  Pitcairn,  of  Hamburg,  reported  on 
December  23,  1907,  that  "owing  to  the  scarcity  and  high 
value  of  cottonseed  oil,  churners  resorted  to  experiments 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  •        93 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

which  greatly  hurt  butterine  consumption,  increasing  the 
popularity  of  another  product,  viz.,  cocoanut  butter,  which 
in  many  sections  of  the  country  has  almost  entirely  re- 
placed butterine  so  far  as  the  lard  requirements  of  bakers 
and  confectioners  are  concerned." 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  high  prices  of  cottonseed  oil 
in  European  markets,  together  with  the  financial  stringency 
of  the  times,  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  slight  decline 
in  the  total  amount  exported.  It  is  also  doubtless  true 
that  the  domestic  cousuniYjtion  of  oil  has  greatly  increased 
the  demand  for  the  pure  oil  and  compounds  made  from  it, 
such  as  lard  substitutes  and  oleomargarine,  which  reduced 
the  quantity  available  for  export. 

COMPLAINTS  BY  IMPORTERS. 

Iii  his  able  address  to  the  association  at  Jamestown  last 
year  Major  John  M.  Carson,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Man- 
ufactures, Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  said: 
'''The  principles  that  underlie  successful  trade  are  funda- 
mental, and  the  law  that  directs  it,  although  unwritten,  is 
universal.  Strict  integrity  is  just  as  essential  in  the 
Orient  as  in  the  Occident." 

This  sentiment  is  fully  indorsed  by  this  association,  and 
in  order  that  our  trade  may  not  suffer  by  reason  of  any 
departure  from  it  we  should  carefully  and  thoroughly  in- 
vestigate any  complaints  coming  from  any  customer,  for- 
eign or  domestic,  against  any  member  of  this  association. 
The  high  reputation  for  personal  and  business  integrity 
enjoyed  by  the  members  of  this  association  must  be  main- 
tained. 


THE  GREAT 

94  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Consul  Robert  J.  Thompson,  in  a  report  to  the  govern- 
ment from  Hanover,  Germany,  says :  "The  moral  status  of 
the  cottonseed  meal  and  oil  trade  does  not  seem  to  be  in 
a  condition  satisfactory  to  the  German  importer.  There  is 
a  general  complaint  against  the  irresponsibility  of  the 
brokers  of  certain  of  the  Southern  cities.  Charges  of  bad 
faith  and  failure  to  fill  contracts  are  freely  made  and  claims 
of  inability  to  collect  judgments  against  the  American  ex- 
porter granted  under  contract  by  the  arbitration  board  of 
the  Hamburg  Association  of  Feed  Merchants  are  cited  by 
old  and  established  dealers.  If  this  be  true  the  remedy 
that  would  at  once  suggest  itself  would  be  the  establish- 
ment of  a  penalty  clause  in  the  by-laws  of  the  Cottonseed 
Crushers'  Association  involving  the  forfeiture  of  member- 
ship of  mills  or  brokers  shown  to  have  violated  articles  of 
agreement  or  contracts  with  foreign  purchasers,  and  par- 
ticularly so  with  the  foreign  purchaser,  because  of  his  fear 
of  expense  and  uncertainty  in  instituting  legal  proceedings 
to  recover  losses  in  a  foreign  state  and  his  lack  of  facilities 
for  the  collection  of  debts  or  judgments.  The  maintenance 
of  confidence  in  foreign  trade  is  one  of  the  greatest  essen- 
1  tiaLs  and  if  the  clean  and  honorable  development  of  a  great 
and  growing  industry  can  be  furthered  by  the  excision  and 
sacrifice  of  harmful  elements  organized  provision  should  be 
thus  made  by  the  cottonseed  interests  to  protect  and  pro- 
mote the  trade." 

We  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  just  cause  for  the  com- 
plaints reported  by  Consul  Thompson,  but  they  should  be 
investigated  either  by  the  committee  on  appeals  and  griev- 
ances or  a  special  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose, 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  95 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

and  the  characters  of  the  parties  against  whom  the, com- 
plaints or  charges  are  made  vindicated,  or  the  facts  estab- 
lished and  the  penalty  enforced.  We  cannot  permit  an 
indictment  like  that  made  by  the  German  importers  to  pass 
without  notice. 

I  have  requested  Special  Agent  Perkins  to  urge  all 
reputable  foreign  dealers  in  our  products  to  become  mem- 
bers of  this  association,  in  order  that  any  grievances  they 
may  have  may  be  brought  before  this  body  for  correction, 
and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  several  have  already  sent  in  their 
applications  for  membership,  and  it  is  probable  that  others 
will  do  likewise  at  an  early  date. 

THE  HANDLING  OF  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS  BY  OCEAN  STEAM- 
SHIP LINES  AND  IN  FOREIGN  PORTS. 

You  are  familiar  Avith  the  various  reports  that  have  been 
made  by  the  special  foreign  agents  on  the  handling  of  cot- 
tonseed products  by  ocean  steamship  lines  and  in  foreign 
ports.  The  report  of  Special  Agent  J.  L.  Benton  covering 
this  subject,  published  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  impressed  the  executive 
committee  with  the  necessity  for  prompt  and  vigorous 
action. 

The  president,  Avith  the  authority  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee, called  a  special  meeting  of  the  association  to  con- 
sider the  matter,  and  this  was  held  in  New  Orleans,  Sep- 
tember 23, 1907.  Representatives  of  ocean  steamship  lines 
were  present  and  the  subject  fully  and  exhaustively  dis- 
cussed between  them  and  our  members.  The  result  of  the 
meeting  Avas  the  appointment  of  committees  from  this  asso- 


THE  GREAT 

96  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

elation  to  confer  with  the  representatives  of  the  ocean 
steamship  lines  at  New  Orleans,  Galveston  and  other  ports, 
with  a  view  to  bringing  about  improvements  in  the  ship- 
ment of  cottonseed  products  by  ocean  lines,  and  in  the 
discharge  of  these  products  by  the  ships  in  foreign  ports. 

The  reports  of  these  various  committees  will  be  submitted 
•  to  you  at  this  meeting  for  your  consideration.  It  appears 
therefrom  that  the  mills  are  to  blame  in  part  for  the  bad 
conditions  existing,  in  that  they  do  not  put  up  their 
products  in  proper  packages.  It  will  also  appear,  however, 
that  the  steamship  lines  do  not  exercise  the  care  in  the 
handling  of  these  products,  both  in  the  loading  and  unload- 
ing, that  their  value  and  the  freight  paid  justifies,  and  from 
a  recent  report  of  the  special  agent  of  the  government,  Mr. 
Albert  G.  Perkins,  it  is  evident  that  conditions  on  the  other 
side  have  not  improved,  and  that  the  handling  of  cottonseed 
meal,  especially,  continues  to  be  very  badly  done,  to  the 
great  injury  and  damage  of  the  product.  This  report  of 
Mr.  Perkins  has  doubtless  been  read  by  every  member  of 
this  association. 

Possibly  those  mills  which  do  not  themselves  export  oil 
or  meal,  do  not  fully  realize  their  own  interest  in  the  ques- 
tion. Our  domestic  market  depends  in  a  large  measure 
on  the  foreign  markets,  and,  therefore,  every  mill  manu- 
facturing oil  or  meal  is  interested  in  keeping  the  foreign 
markets  in  the  best  possible  condition.  To  do  this  the 
association  must  put  its  powerful  influence  behind  this 
movement  and  every  member  must  feel  a  personal  interest 
in  the  result.  The  government  agents  have  shown  us  one 
of  the  causes  of  the  heavy  losses  in  our  business.  The 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  97 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

duty  and  the  responsibility  to  correct  this  condition  is  on 
us. 

1  advise  that  standing  committees  be  created  at  each  of 
the  ports  where  cottonseed  products  are  exported  in  suffi- 
cient quantity  to  justify  it;  that  these  committees  continue 
to  press  the  matter  on  the  transportation  companies,  and 
that  they  co-operate  with  *the  special  government  agents 
abroad  and  with  the  mills  at  home  to  the  end  that  the  pres- 
ent wasteful  methods  may  be  abolished. 

Direct  trade  with  Europe  has  always  been  the  dream  of 
the  South.  The  great  industry  we  represent  will  contribute 
much  toward  the  realization  of  that  dream  if  its  interests 
are  fairly  and  justly  treated. 

IMPROVED  CONDITIONS  IN   FOREIGN   MARKETS. 

Cottonseed  oil  has  found  a  ready  market  in  all  European 
countries.  Naturally,  it  was  first  introduced  into  those 
countries  where  the  people  were  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
vegetable  oils.  Having  been  considered  alongside  of  olive 
and  all  other  vegetable  oils,  its  usage  became  general.  In 
fact,  its  adoption  was  so  universal  that  the  producers  of 
other  oils,  disturbed  over  its  popularity,  succeeded  in 
having  some  of  their  governments  enact  tariff  laws  to  pre- 
vent cotton  oil  competition.  But  the  fact  is  being  gen- 
erally recognized  that  the  producers  of  other  oils  cannot 
supply  the  demand,  and  a  more  conservative  feeling  in 
regard  to  the  tariff  now  prevails. 

Spain  and  Austria  alone  now  have  tariffs  that  are  prac- 
tically prohibitive,  and  a  modification  of  these  tariffs  may 
be  expected.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  Austrian  laws. 


THE  GREAT 

9§  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Owing  to  the  great  development  of  the  oleomargarine  in- 
dustry, efforts  have  been  made,  and  are  now  being  made, 
by  the  State  Department  at  Washington  to  bring  about 
a  reduction  of  the  Austrian  tariff,  arid  this  is  also  being 
urged  by  the  Austrian  manufacturers  of  lard  and  butter 
substitutes,  who  recognize  that  their  trade  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  high  tariffs  has  been  injured.  The  Austrian 
Economical  Society  has  also  taken  up  the  matter  as  shown 
in  a  recent  report  of  United  States  Consul  McFarland: 
"Meetings  are  being  held  and  pressure  being  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  government  to  secure  a  reduction  of  the 
present  rates." 

During  the  year  our  government  succeeded,  through  the 
work  of  the  American  Embassy  at  Constantinople,  in  re- 
moving all  restrictions  on  the  sale  of  cottonseed  oil  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire,  and  sales  were  almost  immediately  made, 
the  contracts  for  forward  oil  amounting,  according  to  the 
report  of  Cousul-General  Ozmun,  to  one  thousand  barrels 
monthly.  The  consul  adds  that  "this  opens  up  an  inviting 
field  to  American  producers." 

In  January  Hon.  Elihu  Hoot,  Secretary  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  at  Washington,  completed  an  agreement  with 
the  French  ambassador  to  America  by  which  the  minimum 
duty  on  cottonseed  oil  was  retained  by  France.  This  was 
a  distinct  victory  for  our  industry,  as  the  maximum  rate 
had  been  threatened. 

In  other  European  countries  the  tariffs  are  not  burden- 
some, and  are  not  likely  to  affect  our  exports. 

In  South  America  all  the  conditions  favor  cotton  oil,  at 
least  in  such  countries  where  we  are  likely  to  do  business. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  99 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

Consul-General  Anderson  says  of  these  markets  that  "the 
market  is  growing  rapidly  and  promises  much."  "As~be- 
tween  olive  oil  and  cottonseed  oil,"  he  says,  "conditions 
generally,  including  tariff  rates,  are  decidedly  in  favor  of 
cottonseed  oil." 

So  far,  therefore,  as  the  present  foreign  tariffs  are  con- 
cerned, conditions  are  favorable  to  our  product,  except  in 
Spain  and  Austria,  and  the  latter  will  no  doubt  soon  find  it 
necessary  to  modify  her  laws. 

RECIPROCITY. 

In  January  last,  Mr.  Alvin  H.  Sanders,  chairman  of  the 
American  Eeciprocal  Tariff  League,  advised  us  that  a 
meeting  would  be  held  in  Washington  on  February  3,  repre- 
senting the  National  Manufacturers7  Association,  the  Na- 
tional Grange,  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  and  other  com- 
mercial organizations,  and  extended  an  invitation  to  our 
association  to  send  a  representative.  This  invitation  was 
submitted  to  the  members  of  the  executive  committee,  who 
favored  its  acceptance,  and  Mr.  T.  S.  Young,  of  New  York, 
was  appointed  a  delegate.  He  will  submit  his  report  to 
this  meeting. 

In  this  connection  and  bearing  on  this  subject,  I  wish  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  foreign  tariffs  on  cottonseed  oil 
and  to  the  American  duties  on  oils  of  various  kinds  under 
the  United  States  tariff  laws.  Without  going  too  much 
into  details  it  is  sufficient  to  state  that  many  of  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe  levy  tariffs  against  cottonseed  oil,  while  we 
levy  similar  tariffs  on  other  vegetable  oils  imported  into 
this  country.  The  American  tariff  on  olive  oil  not  spe- 


THE  GREAT 

100  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

cially  provided  for  is  40  cents  per  gallon,  and  on  olive  oil  in 
bottles,  jars,  etc.,  is  50  cents  per  gallon.  Practically  all  of 
the  other  vegetable  oils  are  taxed  by  our  government  to 
some  extent,  while  our  product  suffers  similarly  in  some 
other  countries. 

In  advising  me  of  the  agreement  between  the  United 
States  and  France  by  which  the  minimum  duties  on  cotton- 
seed oil  were  retained  in  France,  Secretary  Boot  says :  "I 
take  this  occasion  to  call  your  attention  to  the  importance 
to  American  trade  of  our  having  a  maximum  and  minimum 
tariff  so  that  we  can  make  it  an  object  for  other  countries 
to  give  us  their  lowest  rates.  Under  our  present  single 
tariff  system  we  are  obliged,  practically,  to  trade  with  other 
countries  alike,  no  matter  how  they  trade  with  us." 

You  are  familiar,  of  course,  with  the  recent  message  of 
President  Roosevelt  urging  tariff  revision.  This  matter 
has  also  been  vigorously  pushed  by  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Manufacturers  and  our  co-operation  requested.  I 
will  present. to  the  meeting  some  recent  communications 
from  this  association  on  the  subject  for  your  consideration. 

In  view  of  the  large  trade  that  our  industry  enjoys  with 
foreign  countries,  this  matter  should  have  most  serious 
consideration,  and  1  think  should  be  handled  by  our  legis- 
lative committee  between  the  sessions  of  our  association. 

OUR  FOREIGN  TRADE  AND  GOVERNMENT  OFFICIALS. 

King  Edward  of  England  is  called  the  great  commercial 
drummer  of  Europe.  His  principal  rival  in  this  field  is 
Emperor  William  of  Germany.  While  the  heads  of  these 
powerful  governments  are  vigorously  pushing  the  commer- 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  101 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

cial  interests  of  their  respective  countries  it  is  exceedingly 
fortunate  for  us  that  our  government  has  among  its  hig4i 
officials  men  capable  of  competing  with  them  for  the 
world's  trade. 

In  his  trip  through  South  America  Secretary  of  State 
Root  justly  earned  for  himself  the  honored  title  of  the  great 
commercial  drummer  of  America.  His  public  speeches  on 
that  trip  should  be  read  by  every  American  manufacturer 
and  exporter. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  Hon.  Oscar  S.  Straus,  is  pre-eminently  a  business 
man  and  fully  understands  the  importance  of  encouraging 
and  advancing  American  commercial  interests.  In  the 
organization  of  the  National  Council  of  Commerce  and  in 
the  investigations  which  he  has  caused  to  be  made  in 
foreign  markets  of  conditions  affecting  American  products 
lie  has  shown  a  realization  of  trade  conditions  that  demon- 
strates his  perfect  fitness  for  the  great  business  position 
which  he  holds. 

If  American  manufacturers  will  follow  up  the  way 
pointed  out  by  Secretaries  Root  and  Straus,  they  will  find 
markets  for  their  products  at  prices  sufficiently  remunera- 
tive to  take  their  surplus  and  will  aid  greatly  in  the 
removal  of  all  signs  of  industrial  depression  or  financial 
stringency.  We  are  deeply  interested  in  all  that  the  heads 
of  these  two  departments  are  doing  to  promote  our  foreign 
trade.  If  we  will  take  advantage  of  the  vast  amount  of 
information  they  have  published  on  this  subject  we  will 
realize  increased  profits  and  a  more  satisfactory  business. 


THE  GREAT 

IQ2  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

COMMITTEE    ON    FOREIGN    TRADE. 

The  vast  amount  of  information  collected  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor  through  its  consular  reports, 
and  through  the  reports  of  its  special  agents  regarding 
foreign  commerce  dealing  with  cottonseed  products  should 
be  properly  utilized  in  order  that  we  may  get  the  full 
benefit  of  it  at  the  time  it  is  of  the  greatest  value. 

I  therefore  recommend  that  a  committee  on  foreign  trade 
in  cottonseed  products  be  created.  The  duty  of  this  com- 
mittee should  be  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  foreign 
trade  and  market  conditions  through  the  Department  of 
Commerce  and  'Labor  and  the  special  foreign  agents  and 
consuls  of  the  United  States,  and  should  keep  the  members 
of  the  association  informed  through  the  bulletins  of  the 
publicity  bureau,  and  more  promptly  by  other  means  when 
they  think  advisable,  and  confidentially  to  the  members 
only  if  they  think  this  best.  The  committee  could  handle 
all  inquiries  from  foreign  dealers  and  could  often  put  a 
prospective  purchaser  in  touch  with  a  manufacturer  and 
thus  increase  the  demand  for  the  products. 

The  committee  would  also,  in  connection  with  the  legis- 
lative committee,  keep  thoroughly  posted  regarding  the 
tariff  laws  of  ail  countries  affecting  cottonseed  products. 

The  committee,  co-operating  with  the  port  committees, 
would  further  keep  advised  of  the  conditions  affecting 
transportation  of  cottonseed  products  to  foreign  markets, 
the  terms  offered  by  ocean  lines  and  show,  so  far  as  con- 
sistent advantages  of  shipments  through  American  ports 
offering  the  greatest  inducement. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  103 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

It  is  a  waste  of  energy  and  of  our  resources  to  continue 
to  allow  our  products  to  be  handled  as  ballast,  with  the 
consequent  loss,  while  we  pay  high  ocean  rates  on  it. 

THE  BELGIAN  CONSUL-GENERAL. 

During  the  year  the  Belgian  consul-general,  Hon.  Paul 
Hagemans,  made  a  trip  through  the  South.  While  in  that 
section  he  devoted  considerable  time  to  the  study  of  cotton- 
seed products.  Belgium  does  a  very  large  business  in  these 
products  with  the  United  States,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the 
res  Lilt  of  Hon.  Paul  Hagemans7  visit  will  be  to  largely  in- 
crease this  business. 

INDUSTRIAL   EXPOSITIONS. 

Expositions  of  both  general  and  special  character  are 
held  in  some  of  the  European  countries  almost  every  year, 
and  it  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  our  industry  to  have 
complete  exhibits  of  cottonseed  products  at  many  of  them. 

In  his  annual  report  for  1907,  Hon.  John  M.  Carson, 
chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor,  calls  attention  to  these  expositions  and 
advises  that  the  national  government  should  accept  invita- 
tions frequently  extended  to  our  country  by  foreign  coun- 
tries to  participate  in  them,  and  encourage  industrial  or- 
ganizations to  make  exhibits  of  their  products  under  the 
patronage  and  protection  of  the  national  government.  He 
further  suggests  that  the  various  State  governments  might 
make  special  appropriations  to  assist  industrial  enterprises 
in  making  such  displays  of  the  products  of  their  States. 

I  would  recommend  that  our  publicity  committee  be 


THE  GREAT 

104  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

requested  and  authorized  to  act  with  our  executive  com- 
mittee in  giving  special  attention  to  this  matter,  and  be 
directed  to  co-operate  with  Hon.  John  M.  Carson  in  arrang- 
ing for  participation  in  such  expositions  wherever  prac- 
ticable, and  when  such  work  promises  adequate  returns 
that  other  organizations  be  requested  to  join  with  us,  and 
that  the  various  State  legislatures  be  petitioned  to  make 
sufficient  appropriations  to  cover  the  necessary  expenses. 
It  can  be  justly  urged  that  any  benefit  derived  by  our  in- 
dustry from  such  an  expenditure  of  public  money  would 
likewise  be  of  great  and  permanent  value  to  other  interests, 
and  especially  to  growers  of  cotton  in  the  South,  inasmuch 
as  an  increased  demand  for  cottonseed  products  would  add 
immediately  and  permanently  to  the  value  of  the  cotton 
crop. 

OLEOMARGARINE. 

There  is  now  pending  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
Senate  Bill  No.  3152,  introduced  by  Senator  Penrose,  which 
I  understand  if  passed,  would  absolutely  prohibit  the  man- 
ufacture of  oleomargarine  in  the  United  States.  There  is 
also  pending  in  the  House,  House  Bill  No.  557,  introduced 
by  Mr.  Caulfield,  a  bill  which  I  am  informed  would  repeal 
all  laws  regarding  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  oleomar- 
garine in  the  United  States  except,  of  course,  the  national 
pure  food  laws. 

We  are  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  oleomargarine, 
at  least  to  the  extent  of  the  amount  of  cotton  oil  used  in 
this  product  and,  further  to  the  extent  that  its  manufacture 
may  become  of  benefit  to  Southern  dairymen.  In  European 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  105 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

countries  cotton  oil  is  extensively  used  in  its  manufacture, 
and  its  use  for  this  purpose  forms  a  very  large  part  of  the 
foreign  demand  for  cotton  oil. 

Oleomargarine  is  a  sweet,  pure,  wholesome  edible  prod- 
uct and  is  sold,  I  understand,  in  this  country  in  full  com- 
pliance with  the  pure  food  laws,  both  national  and  State, 
\vhich  are  sometimes  almost  prohibitive  in  their  provisions. 
The  production  of  butter  in  both  this  country  and  Europe 
falls  far  short  of  the  demand.  It  was  stated  recently  in 
the  London  Daily  Mail  that  the  supply  of  butter  had  fallen 
below  the  demand  for  many  years,  and  had  actually 
reached  the  proportions  of  a  famine  in  different  parts  of 
England. 

Without  substitutes  for  butter  the  poorer  people 
especially  will  be  deprived  of  this  absolutely  necessary 
article  of  food.  Oleomargarine  has  proven  a  satisfactory 
substitute.  There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  laws 
discrimating  against  its  manufacture  in  favor  of  other 
products  should  be  enacted,  yet  both  national  and  many 
of  the  State  governments  have  put  restrictive  laws  on  their 
statute  books. 

The  New  York  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court 
recently  decided  the  oleomargarine  law  of  that  State  un- 
constitutional in  an  important  respect.  The  court  held 
that  constitutional  principles  were  violated  by  the  enact- 
ment, "which  absolutely  prohibited  an  important  branch  of 
industry  for  the  sole  reason  that  it  competes  with  another 
and  may  reduce  the  price  of  an  article  of  food  for  the 
human  race." 

This  matter  is  brought  to  your  attention  at  the  request  of 


THE  GREAT 

106  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

several  members  so  that  it  may  receive  such  consideration 
by  you  as  you  may  decide  it  deserves.  In  order  that  it 
may  be  intelligently  discussed  I  have,  after  consultation 
with  our  executive  committee,  extended  invitations  to  the 
oleomargarine  manufacturers  to  send  representatives  to 
this  meeting,  and  several  of  them  have  responded.  On 
behalf  of  the  association  I  take  pleasure  in  welcoming 
them  here  and  in  offering  to  them  the  usual  courtesies  of 
the  occasion. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Culbertson,  of  Texas,  a  member  of  this  associa- 
tion, has  consented  to  deliver  an  address  on  this  subject 
during  this  meeting. 

DISCUSSING  THE  PRICE  OF  COTTONSEED. 

At  the  special  meeting  held  in  New  Orleans  in  Septem- 
ber, 1907,  an  invitation  was  extended  to  us  by  Hon.  Harvie 
Jordan,  president  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Growers'  Asso- 
ciation, to  appoint  delegates  to  meet  a  delegation  from  his 
association  to  discuss  with  them  the  price  of  seed,  with  a 
view,  if  possible,  of  establishing  some  staple  price.  The 
delegates  were  appointed  under  resolution  adopted  by  you 
with  instructions  to  discuss  the  value  of  seed,  but  under  no 
circumstances  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  price. 

The  meeting  was  held  and  the  report  on  the  result  will 
be  submitted  to  this  convention  by  Mr.  M.  S.  Harper, 
president  of  the  Georgia  Cottonseed  Crushers'  Association, 
one  of  our  representatives  at  the  joint  meeting. 

Our  association  is  unique  among  commercial  and  indus- 
trial organizations  in  that  it  has  never  sought  to  fix  prices 
on  the  raw  materials,  the  supplies  its  members  purchase, 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


107 


nor  on  the  products  they  manufacture.  On  the  contrary, 
at  its  New  Orleans  meeting  in  September,  1907,  the  asso- 
ciation placed  itself  on  record  against  such  practices,  and 
it  is  not  likely  that  its  policy  will  ever  be  changed  in  this 
respect,  but  other  associations  holding  different  views  have 
adopted  a  different  course.  The  executive  committees  rep- 
resenting the  Cotton  Growers'  Association  and  the  Na- 


Heari  of  the  American  Sardine  Packing  Industry,  Where  Cotton 
Oil  Is  Used  in  Packing  Fish. 

tional  Farmers'  Union  have  attempted  to  fix  prices  on 
cottonseed,  frequently  naming  a  price  without  proper  re- 
gard to  the  value  of  products  and  without  giving  due  con- 
sideration to  other  conditions.  Often  the  price  proposed 
for  seed  has  been  beyond  the  ability  of  the  mills  to  pay  and 
in  excess  of  the  value  of  the  seed  to  the  growers  themselves. 
The  high  prices  recently  paid  for  seed  by  the  mills  will 
be  hard  to  maintain  under  any  circumstances,  but  the 


THE  GREAT 

108  •  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

farmers  may  do  much  in  that  direction  by  more  generally 
using  cottonseed  products  in  their  homes  and  on  their 
farms,  instead  of  using  competing  articles.  There  is  no 
better,  more  wholesome  or  more  economical  cooking  fat 
than  cottonseed  oil,  yet  the  growers  of  cottonseed  continue 
to  some  extent  to  buy  other  articles  for  cooking  purposes 
inferior  to  cotton  oil  and  competing  with  it. 

Cottonseed  meal  stands  at  the  head  of  American  feeding 
materials  in  the  percentage  of  fat  and  protein,  the  ma- 
terials most  needed  for  stock  feed,  and  yet  in  many  sections 
growers  of  seed  import  other  feeding  material  not  so  val- 
uable as  cottonseed  meal  and  pay  higher  prices  for  it. 
Likewise  the  growers  of  seed  import  hay  and  roughage  for 
stock  feed  and  pay  from  three  to  four  times  as  much  for  it 
as  they  do  for  cottonseed  hulls,  equally  as  valuable  if  not 
superior  to  the  articles  imported. 

Cottonseed  meal  contains  a  high  percentage  of  ammonia. 
No  material,  properly  mixed  with  phosphoric  acid  and 
potash,  makes  a  better  commercial  fertilizer  for  Southern 
soils  and  Southern  crops,  yet  growers  of  cottonseed  go  on 
using  other  sources  of  ammonia  in  their  fertilizers,  paying 
as  high  or  higher  prices  for  it,  thus  creating  and  supporting 
competition  against  their  own  and  the  interests  of  the  oil 
mills. 

Co-operation  between  the  farmers  and  the  mills  is  most 
desirable,  in  their  mutual  interest,  so  far  as  it  can  be  had  in 
legitimate  trading.  Much  has  been  done  to  bring  this 
about  by  the  interstate  and  State  publicity  bureaus  of  the 
crushers'  associations,  and  much  more  can  and  will  be  done 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  109 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

in  the  educational  work  in  which  those  bureaus  are  now 
working. 

GRADING  COTTONSEED. 

At  our  last  annual  convention  at  Jamestown  resolutions 
were  adopted,  unanimously,  calling  attention  to  the  preser- 
vation and  better  care  of  cottonseed  and  recommending 
that  the  members  of  this  association  in  each  State  urge 
upon  their  legislatures  such  enactments  as  will  fully  pro- 
tect the  buyers  of  seed  by  requiring  sellers  to  deliver  such 
goods  as  they  guarantee.  It  was  further  directed  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  in  each  State  from  the  members  of 
this  association  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  recom- 
mendation. 

These  committees  were  appointed  by  the  president,  and 
considerable  correspondence  resulted.  For  various  reasons 
the  matter  was  not  pressed  in  any  of  the  States,  but  the 
committees  appointed  at  that  time  will  submit  the  reports 
required  during  this  session  and  such  further  action  taken 
as  the  association  thinks  proper. 

THE    EXECUTIVE    COMMITTEES. 

Your  executive  committees  have  worked  unceasingly 
for  the  good  of  the  association.  Without  such  work  noth- 
ing could  have  been  accomplished.  It  is  a  great  pleasure 
also  to  add  that  the  individual  members  have  promptly  re- 
sponded to  every  call  on  them  where  the  association's  work 
has  been  concerned. 

The  good  resulting  from  such  cordial  co-operation  be- 
tween officers  and  members  was  recently  demonstrated  in 
one  particular  matter  pending  before  Congress  in  which 


THE  GREAT 

HO  .COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

our  industry  was  deeply  interested.  Acting  together  they 
were  able  to  show  to  the  members  of  Congress  the  necessity 
for  the  continued  appropriation  of  funds  to  carry  on  inves- 
tigations  regarding  our  products  in  foreign  markets  and  to 
aid  in  securing  favorable  action  thereon.  It  also  demon- 
strated the  influence  of  your  association  and  the  impor- 
tance of  your  products.  This  is  only  one  of  many  similar 
instances  that  have  occurred  during  the  year. 

In  discharging  the  duties  assigned  to  me  I  have  had  the 
active  assistance  of  the  executive  committee,  without  which 
any  efforts  on  my  part  to  promote  your  interests  would 
have  resulted  in  failure. 

RULES. 

At  your  last  annual  meeting  the  by-laws  were  so  amended 
as  to  require  the  committee  on  rules  to  meet  in  advance  of 
the  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  association  and  prepare 
such  amendments  to  the  rules  as  might  be  presented  and 
approved,  and  to  print  and  distribute  to  the  members  such 
changes  in  the  rules  as  the  committee  recommended. 

In  accordance  therewith  the  committee  met  at  New 
Orleans,  La.,  on  March  24,  1908,  and  discussed  all  amend- 
ments proposed.  Their  report  was  printed  and  distributed 
to  our  members.  This  report  has  now  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  members  about  two  weeks,  and  will  also  be  sub- 
mitted to  this  meeting  for  your  consideration  and  such 
action  as  the  meeting  may  see  proper  to  take. 

The  committee  carefully  considered  every  change  sug- 
gested and  worked  hard,  intelligently  and  unselfishly  to 
perfect  the  rules  and  adapt  them  to  every  condition  affect- 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  HI 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

ing  the  trade  in  cottonseed  products.     I  hope  their  recom- 
mendations will  receive  your  approval. 

FINANCIAL. 

The  annual  report  of  the  secretary  and  treasurer  fur- 
nishes the  details  of  receipts  and  disbursements.  The 
year  has  been  an  unusually  busy  one  for  the  association, 
involving  unusual  expense.  The  special  meeting  of  the 
association  held  in  New  Orleans  in  September,  the  extra 
meeting  of  the  rules  committee  at  New  Orleans  in  March, 
the  several  extra  meetings  of  the  executive  committee  at 
Memphis  and  New  Orleans,  the  litigation  over  the  tariff  on 
press  cloth,  were  all  the  result  of  conditions  arising  out  of 
the  growing  importance  of  the  association's  work. 

The  bureau  of  publicity  has  also  done  much  more  work 
than  heretofore,  including  an  increase  in  its  publications, 
the  expense  being  necessarily  larger.  While  the  receipts 
have  practically  all  been  expended  the  association  closes 
the  year  out  of  debt  and  with  probable  income  sufficient  for 
the  ensuing  year  to  meet  all  current  expenses. 

THE  SECRETARY. 

The  annual  report  of  the  secretary  and  treasurer,  Major 
Kobert  Gibson,  will  be  submitted  as  usual.  I  wish  to  add 
my  testimony  to  that  of  all  the  presidents  who  have  pre- 
ceded me  regarding  Major  Gibson's  absolute  faithfulness 
and  loyalty.  He  has  served  you  since  the  organization  of 
your  association.  If  he  thinks  about  anything  else  on 
earth,  besides  his  own  family,  or  if  he  loves  anything  in  the 
world  better  than  your  work,  I  have  not  discovered  it  after 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 

about  three  years  of  close  personal  contact  with  him. 
Other  members  of  your  association  have  served  you  with 
fidelity  and  interest,  but  they  did  sometimes  think  of  some- 
thing else  besides  the  association's  work,  while  his  mind 
never  wanders  to  any  other  subject.  I  believe  if  you  should 
wake  him  up  at  midnight  or  drag  him  drowning  from  the 
bottom  of  the  Mississippi  River,  he  would  ask  you  for  your 
dues.  His  report  is  comprehensive,  but  if  it  fails  to  give 
you  any  information  that  you  want,  search  him  and  I  will 
guarantee  that  you  will  find  it  in  his  pocket  or  in  his  head. 

PUBLICITY   BUREAU. 

I  ask  your  most  careful  attention  to  the  annual  report  of 
the  publicity  bureau.  Crude  mill  managers  individually, 
as  a  rule,  formerly  made  very  little  effort  to  increase  the 
value  of  the  products,  and  the  refiners  were  often  too  well 
satisfied  to  allow  the  refined  products  to  be  used  as  adul- 
terants. The  creation  of  the  publicity  bureau  has  caused 
some  changes  in  this  respect.  This  work  has  brought  to- 
gether in  closer  relationship  the  refiners  and  the  producers 
of  crude  oil.  Its  work  has  shown  the  mills  that  none  of 
the  products  have  brought  their  value  in  comparison  with 
the  commodities  with  which  they  compete,  and  this  has 
resulted  in  promoting  new  markets  and  new  uses,  and,  con- 
sequently, increased  values.  The  refiners  have  also  more 
fully  realized  this,  and  together  with  the  crude  mills  have 
given  a  more  permanent  value  to  the  products. 

It  is,  therefore,  surprising  that  the  financial  support 
given  the  bureau  should  be  so  far  less  than  it  requires. 
This  must  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  good  which  has 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 
OF  THE  SOUTH 


113 


already  been  accomplished,  and  the  opportunities  for  still 
greater  results,  are  not  fully  understood  by  the  association. 
Up  to  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  bureau  prac- 
tically all  of  the  advertising  of  oil  and  the  products  of  oil 


An  English  Exhibit  of  Cotton  Oil  and  Hogless  Lard.     Confec- 
tioners' Exhibition,  London. 

had  been  done  by  the  refiners.  The  rapid  increase  in  the 
number  of  crude  mills  and  the  consequent  increased  pro- 
duction of  crude  oil  made  it  necessary  to  create  a  demand 
sufficient  to  meet  the  increased  production  of  the  oil,  as 
weil  as  the  higher  price  of  the  raw  material. 


THE  GREAT 

114  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

The  creation  of  the  bureau  of  publicity  was  an  offer  on 
the  part  of  the  crude  mills  to  contribute  their  share  of  the 
necessary  advertising  expenses  and  to  co-operate  with  the 
refiners  in  further  exploiting  cottonseed  products.  Some 
of  the  refiners  declined  this  offer  and  withdrew  from  the 
association.  Other  refiners  have  given  only  lukewarm 
approval  to  the  movement,  while  others,  more  in  sympathy 
with  it,  have  been  more  generous  in  their  support.  The 
splendid  results  that  might  be  accomplished  by  co-operation 
between  the  refiners  and  the  mills  does  not  seem  to  be 
fully  appreciated. 

The  work  accomplished  by  the  bureau  this  year  is  fully 
set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  should  be 
gratifying  to  the  association.  The  committee  has  per- 
formed its  duty  fully,  and  the  advertising  which  it  has  given 
cottonseed  products  is  of  the  highest  character.  Its  pub- 
lications have  been  models  of  excellence. 

While  the  opportunities  before  the  publicity  bureau,  with 
proper  support,  are  unlimited,  there  is  much,  very  much, 
that  individual  millers  can  do  on  their  own  account  and  in 
their  own  towns  by  co-operating  with  the  bureau  in  making 
better  home  markets.  This  is  too  often  neglected.  If 
every  manager  and  every  employe  would  use  the  products 
hiinsself  and  talk  about  them  more,  advertise  in  his  local 
papers,  show  to  regular  customers  and  to  possible  cus- 
tomers their  value  and  how  to  use  them,  he  would  be  of 
benefit  to  the  mills  and  to  the  purchaser  and  to  the  com- 
munity and  would  accomplish  surprising  results.  With 
the  publicity  bureau  back  of  him  to  furnish  the  literature 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  115 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

needed,  he  would  find  the  \vork  not  only  pleasant  and  profit- 
able, but  intensely  interesting. 

The  convention  should  determine  what  amount  is  needed 
to  sustain  the  bureau  of  publicity,  and  so  provide  for  it  in 
a  practical  and  definite  way. 

EXHIBITION  OF  COTTONSEED  PRODUCTS. 

There  is  no  Southern  industry  that  has  been  more  bene- 
ficial to  the  country  than  the  manufacture  of  cottonseed 
products. 

It  has  established  a  permanent  value  for  cottonseed, 
adding  thereby  over  sixty  million  dollars  to  the  value  of 
the  cotton  crop  annually,  even  if  only  sixty  per  cent,  of  the 
seed  are  crushed. 

It  has  caused  the  investment  in  the  South  alone  of  ap- 
proximately seventy-five  million  dollars,  giving  employ- 
ment to  over  twenty-five  thousand  people.  It  has  increased 
the  export  trade  of  the  United  States  by  between  thirty-five 
and  forty  million  dollars  annually.  Oil,  its  most  valuable! 
product,  has  partly  supplied  the  shortage  in  olive  and  other 
vegetable  oils  in  Europe,  created,  by  the  increasing  popula- ' 
tion  of  the  old  world.  It  has  successfully  entered  into  the 
manufacture  of  oleomargarine,  butterine  and  other  similar! 
substitutes  in  Europe  and  America,  thus  furnishing 
wholesome  products  in  many  sections  where  butter  has  bef 
come  almost  unknown.  Lard  substitutes  made  with  it 
have  largely  supplanted  hogs'  lard  and  almost  made  the. 
South  independent  of  this  Western  product. 

Its  by-products  have  made  dairying  and  cattle-raising  in 
the  South  possible  and  profitable,  and,  in  addition,  an- 


THE  GREAT 

116  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

nually  supplies  to  European  stockfeeders  and  dairymen 
about  six  hundred  thousand  tons  of  cottonseed  meal  and 
cake,  the  richest  and  best-known  stock  feed  ever  produced. 

In  time  it  will  create  great  packing-houses  in  the  South. 
It  has  enriched  the  soil  and  restored  abandoned  lands  to 
their  original  fertility,  greatly  increasing  the  yields  of  all 
crops. 

So  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  the  crushing  of 
seed  is,  and  must  necessarily  remain,  a  Southern  monopoly. 
Mills  are  operated  in  England,  Germany,  China,  India  and 
South  America,  but  nowhere  are  the  products  of  these 
equal  in  quality,  or  even  approximately  so,  to  those  pro- 
duced in  the  Southern  States  from  seed  gathered  fresh  from 
the  fields. 

If  this  meeting  would  appoint  a  committee  to  take  charge 
of  an  exposition  illustrating  these  facts,  to  be  held  in  some 
central  city  of  the  South  offering  the  greatest  inducement, 
either  through  municipal  guarantees  or  through  commer- 
cial or  business  organizations,  I  feel  sure  that  the  neces- 
sary amount  to  cover  the  expenses  of  such  an  exhibit  would 
be  raised,  and  the  most  unique,  the  most  interesting  and  the 
most  useful,  practical  display  would  be  made  that  has  ever 
been  gathered  together  in  the  South.  If  the  next  annual 
meetings  of  the  interstate  and  all  the  separate  State  or- 
ganizations were  held  in  the  city  selected  for  this  purpose 
at  the  same  time,  and  if  possible  arrangements  made  for 
the  dairy  and  stock  associations  to  participate  in  the  meet- 
ings and  the  exhibit,  and  similar  arrangements  made  with 
the  manufacturers  of  all  mill  machinery,  such  a  meeting 
would  bring  together  the  largest  industrial  convention 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  H7 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

ever  held  in  the  South.  The  city  entertaining  the  conven- 
tion would  derive  immense  benefit  from  it.  The  practical 
result  to  our  interests  would  be  of  incalculable  value. 

If  individual  exhibits  were  made  by  the  manufacturers 
of  refinery  products  and  the  crude  mills,  the  expense  in- 
volved would  be  small  compared  to  the  results,  and  the  asso- 
ciation itself  would  be  called  on  for  an  insignificant  part  of 
the  expenses  needed,  particularly  if  the  city  selected  for  the 
exhibit  should  contribute  liberally  for  the  purpose. 

I  submit  the  matter  to  your  consideration,  and  if  you 
think  the  suggestion  practicable  would  advise  that  a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  from  among  your  members  to  co- 
operate with  committees  from  stock,  dairy  and  machinery 
associations  throughout  the  country,  and  endeavor  to  ar- 
range for  such  an  exhibition,  the  details  to  be  worked  out 
by  these  committees. 

ADVERTISING. 

We  are  frequently  called  on  by  parties  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, as  well  as  by  our  own  people,  for  information  regard- 
ing our  products.  At  no  time  in  the  history  of  our  indus- 
try has  there  been  more  public  interest  in  these  products 
than  at  present.  We  should  cultivate  this  condition.  Our 
interstate  publicity  bureau  and  the  various  State  bureaus 
have  done  splendid  work  in  this  direction,  especially  within 
the  last  year,  and  in  addition  to  this  our  association  should 
prepare  and  publish  pamphlets  in  convenient  form  to  an- 
swer special  inquiries.  I  have  just  received  an  inquiry 
through  Special  Agent  Perkins  from  the  German  Agricul- 
tural Society,  an  organization  of  German  farmers  with  a 


THE  GREAT 

H8  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

membership  of  16,000,  publishing  a  weekly  bulletin,  asking 
for  information  regarding  the  feeding  value  of  cottonseed 
meal.  We  should  be  ab]e  to  answer  this  with  printed  mat- 
ter in  concise,  and  yet  complete,  shape;  it  should  give  scien- 
tific as  well  as  practical  values.  I  suggest  that  the  pub- 
licity committee  be  requested  to  prepare  a  pamphlet  that 
will  meet  this  condition. 

During  the  year  Dr.  A.  M.  Soule,  dean  of  the  Agricul- 
tural College  of  Georgia,  carried  a  train  through  that  State 
with  exhibits  of  articles  of  interest  to  the  farmers,  accom- 
panied by  lecturers  able  to  explain  the  exhibits.  Through 
the  courtesy  of  Dr.  Soule  the  manufacturers  of  cottonseed 
products  were  allowed  to  arrange  in  their  exhibit  car  a 
full  line  of  cottonseed,  products  and  to  send  a  man  with  the 
exhibit  to  explain  it.  The  result  has  been  most  encourag- 
ing, and  if  followed  in  other  States  will  prove  of  great  ben- 
efit to  our  millers. 

The  opportunities  for  advertising  are  unlimited,  and  if 
we  did  more  of  it  through  the  trade  journals  and  the  news- 
papers the  demand  for  these  products  wrould  immensely  in- 
crease. / 

TRADE  JOURNALS. 

What  some  one  has  called  "hypnotism  of  the  types"  has 
been  realized  by  our  association.  Owing  its  origin  to  a 
member  of  the  press,  it  has  received  from  the  beginning  the 
highest  consideration  of  the  trade  journals,  without  whose 
assistance  its  success  could  not  have  been  attained. 

The  talented  editors  of  these  papers,  inspired  by  high 
motives  of  public  good,  have,  by  their  encouragement,  their 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  119- 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

timely  advice,  their  support  of  every  movement  for  the  good 
of  the  business,  greatly  assisted  in  promoting  this  work, 
and,  in  addition  to  their  editorials,  have  freely  used  the 
columns  of  their  papers,  without  charge,  to  exploit  and 
advertise  cottonseed  products. 

Their  good  influence  has  been  far-reaching,  and  we  owe 
them  a  debt  that  cannot  be  cancelled  entirely  by  resolu- 
tion ;  we  should  express  our  obligation  and  our  gratitude  in 
the  usual  manner,  and  thus  show  them  that  their  brilliant 
work  for  us  has  been  appreciated. 

But  we  should  always  remember  that  some  substantial 
recognition  is  just  as  essential  to  their  business  as  to  ours. 
In  many  parts  of  the  country  the  daily  press  has  also  shown 
our  interests  unusual  consideration,  and,  while  this  has 
been  done  without  hope  of  reward  other  than  a  recognition 
of  the  great  public  service  rendered,  we  should,  wherever 
possible,  remember  them  when  we  are  pasisng  around  the 
possible,  remember  them  when  we  are  passing  around  the 
small,  and  the  fishes  should  be  whales,  not  minnows. 

OUR  ASSOCIATES. 

Our  friends  who  have  laid  aside  their  own  important 
business  affairs  to  accept  our  invitation  to  address  this 
convention  and  to  participate  in  its  deliberations  and  dis- 
cussions will  receive  your  most  courteous  attention.  They 
come  at  our  request  to  give  us  the  benefit  of  their  experience 
in  the  use  of  our  products  and  to  advise  with  us  on  other 
matters  in  which  we  are  interested.  Such  encouragement 
and  assistance  will  be  greatly  appreciated  by  you  and  will 


THE  GREAT 

120  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

facilitate  the  further  development  of  our  industry,  and  we 
will  profit  by  their  presence. 

In  your  name  I  extend  to  them  a  most  cordial  welcome 
to  our  meeting  and  thank  them  for  the  sacrifice  they  have 
made  in  our  interest. 

IN   MEMORIAM. 

It  is  well  that  we  should  pause  in  the  pursuit  of  business 
to  pay  proper  respect  to  the  memories  of  those  of  our 
members  who  during  the  year  have  "crossed  over  the 
river,"  to  recall  their  services,  to  praise  their  virtues  and 
to  express  our  obligations  to  them  for  what  they  have 
taught  us  by  precept  and  example.  Since  our  last  meeting 
we  have  lost  from  our  membership  by  death  Major  Robert 
A.  Allison,  of  Winona,  Miss.;  Mr.  C.  S.  McCullough,  of 
Darlington,  S.  0.,  and  Mr.  J.  S.  Armstrong,  of  Dallas, 
Texas.  They  were  all  prominent  in  our  association,  con- 
tributed liberally  of  their  means,  time  and  talent  to  its 
work  and  to  the  development  of  the  industry  it  represents. 

It  is  fitting  that  the  association  should  recognize  this  by 
suitable  records  on  the  minutes  and  in  the  reports  of  its 
proceedings.  Knowing  that  this  will  be  indorsed  by  you  I 
have  appointed  committees  from  among  the  friends  of  each 
of  our  deceased  members  and  requested  them  to  present 
suitable  resolutions  to  this  convention  expressive  of  the 
sentiments  of  this  association  on  the  losses  its  members 
have  sustained. 

CONCLUSION. 
Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  you  represent  one  of  the 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  121 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

world's  youngest,  greatest  and  most  beneficial  industries. 
Its  great  interest  commands  your  earnest  and  most  careful 
attention. 

You  will  have  before  you  at  this  meeting  the  considera- 
tion of  questions  involving  the  continued  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  your  industry ;  its  future  is  largely  in  your  keep- 
ing; much  depends  on  what  you  do  during  the  next  few 
days ;  upon  your  actions  may  hang  future  success  or  failure. 
From  no  other  source  can  or  will  these  interests  be  so  well 
guarded.  I  believe  that  here  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  the 
lins  that  formerly  divided  the  people  of  this  great  country 
in  strife,  now  a  band  that  binds  us  together  in  mutual 
friendship  and  interest — in  this  great  city  of  Louisville, 
famous  in  song  and  story,  you  will  be  inspired  to  still 
greater  efforts  to  promote  the  good  of  your  own  great  in- 
dustry, and  when  you  have  returned  to  your  homes  and 
resumed  your  usual  occupations,  you  will  realize  and  ap- 
preciate the  benefits  you  have  derived  from  your  attendance 
here.  In  the  conduct  of  your  business  at  home  you  will 
need  the  patience  of  Job  and  the  righteousness  of  Abraham, 
but  if  you  will  be  both  patient  and  righteous,  you  will,  at 
our  next  annual  convention,  be  able  to  rejoice  over  your 
complete  success  and  to  congratulate  yourselves  on  the 
good  that  you  have  done,  not  only  for  yourselves  and  your 
stockholders,  but  for  the  country  at  large. 

I  need  not  say  in  conclusion  that  it  has  been  the  greatest 
pleasure  and  the  greatest  honor  of  my  business  life  to  have 
served  you  in  the  high  position  to  which,  by  your  partiality, 
you  elected  me.  I  have  watched  with  the  greatest  interest 
and  satisfaction  the  wonderful  development  of  the  indus- 


THE  GREAT 

122  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

try.  It  has  grown  iii  a  short  while,  as  measured  by  trade 
developments,  from  a  few  scattered  mills  on  the  Mississippi 
and  in  the  Piedmont  region  of  the  Carolinas,  to  that  of  a 
great  manufacturing  industry,  conferring  benefits  on  our 
people,  receiving  indorsement  and  encouragement  of  the 
national  government,  creating  other  industries,  and  win- 
ning the  world's  recognition  of  its  products.  But  there  yet 
remains  much  to  be  done  before  its  full  development  is 
reached.  That  this  will  be  accomplished  and  that  every 
obstacle  to  our  trade  will  be  removed  will  not  be  doubted 
by  any  one  familiar  with  the  energy,  ability,  honesty  and 
loyalty  of  the  members  of  our  association. 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  123 

OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER    X. 

A  MODEST  LITTLE  STORY  OF  A  BIG  LITTLE  SEED. 

A  SHORT  SKETCH  OF  THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  COTTON  OIL-- 
PURITY OF  THE  PRODUCT — ITS  VARIOUS  USES — ITS  BENE- 
FITS TO  THE  SOUTHERN  COTTON  GROWER. 

It  is  said  that  story  is  simply  an  abbreviation  of  Ms-story, 
and,  therefore,  a  story  well  told  contains  as  many  facts  as 
history.  In  the  following  little  story,  of  great  achieve- 
ments from  humble  beginnings,  everything  will  be  facts 
except  where  the  reverse  can  be  inferred : 

Tradition  tells  us  that  on  the  site  of  ancient  Athens, 
where  opposing  forces  struggled  for  supremacy,  a  seed 
dropped  from  Heaven  between  the  rocks  and  sprouted,  from 
which  sprang  a  wonderful  plant,  and  so  long  as  it  was  culti- 
vated agriculture  in  that  country  flourished.  It  has  always 
been  supposed  that  this  was  an  olive,  because  it  is  an  oil- 
bearing  fruit  and  because  oil  has  always  been  considered  an 
emblem  of  plenty. 

Two  thousand  years  ago  the  Chinese  are  said  to  have 
expressed  oil  from  the  cottonseed,  and  to  have  appreciated 
its  merits.  Nearly  two  thousand  years  later  the  southern 
part  of  the  United  States  realized  the  value  of  cottonseed 
for  its  oil-bearing  properties,  and  in  a  small  way  expressed 
the  oil,  and  shipped  it  to  foreign  countries.  At  first  it 
reached  those  markets  in  such  small  quantities  that  it  was 
difficult  to  find  buyers  for  it,  and  it  was  used  for  whatever 


THE  GREAT 

124:  COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

purpose  the  purchaser  desired  it,  principally  in  the  soap 
kettle.  As  larger  quantities  crossed  the  waters,  the  manu- 
facturers of  olive  oil  had  it  brought  to  their  attention,  and 
investigation  showed  that  it  ranked  with  the  highest  grade 
of  olive  and  other  similar  oils.  It  soon  came  back  to  this 
country  masquerading  under  foreign  titles,  and  dressed  out 
in  foreign  garbs.  So  long  as  it  associated  only  with  the 
aristocratic  olive,  and  was  in  such  good  company,  no  fur- 
ther efforts  to  exploit  its  virtues  were  made  by  the  manu- 
facturers, until  the  production  reached  a  point  where 
larger  markets  were  needed.  It  then  found  its  way  to  the 
Western  packers,  and  they  were  shrewd  enough  to  realize 
its  value  to  them,  as  it  was  cheaper  than  lard  oil.  The 
purity  of  cottonseed  oil  was  such  that  it  finally  went  into 
the  market  under  its  own  merits,  asserted  itself  under  its 
own  name,  and  declared  its  independence,  and  has  since 
been  recognized  as  the  best,  the  purest  and  most  wholesome 
product  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

A  tourist  asked  a  citizen,  "What  is  cottonseed  oil?"  and 
the  citizen  answered,  "Oil  made  from  cottonseed,''  and 
thought  he  had  told  him  all  there  was  to  be  told. 

A  primrose  by  the  river's  brim, 
A  yellow  primrose  was,  to  him, 
And  nothing  more. 

If  the  question  had  been  asked  of  any  well-informed 
person,  the  inquirer  would  have  been  told  a  great  many 
other  things.  He  would  have  been  informed  that  the  man- 
ufacture of  cottonseed  oil  has  contributed  enormously  to 


THE  GREAT 

COTTONSEED  INDUSTRY  125 

OF  THE  SOUTH 

the  wealth  of  the  South,  has  established  a  business  giving 
employment  to  thousands  of  people,  and  added  millions  to 
the  export  trade  of  this  country.  He  would  also  have  been 
told  that  if  each  inhabitant  in  the  State  of  Georgia  would 
use  cottonseed  oil  in  the  place  of  lard  and  butter,  all  of 
the  oil  produced  in  Georgia  would  be  used  in  the  State,  and 
in  cfoing  this  the  increase  in  the  market  price  of  the  oil 
would  be  sufficient  to  increase  the  value  of  cottonseed  prob- 
ably one  million  dollars,  which  would  go  directly  to  the 
farmers  of  Georgia,  and  that  if  the  oil  was  used  in  the  same 
proportions  throughout  the  South  for  a  few  years,  its  en- 
hanced value  would  make  the  seed  as  valuable  as  the  lint, 
and  the  health  of  the  people  would  be  greatly  improved. 
With  these  benefits  and  advantages  to  the  South,  the  in- 
quirer would  naturally  ask  why  the  people  of  this  State 
do  not  use  cottonseed  oil  more  extensively  for  salads  and 
cooking.  The  answer  would  be  that  its  value  has  not  been 
fully  appreciated. 


OVERDUE. 


YC  26041; 


. 


223167 


